“The purchase of this state-of-the-art steel plant from KG Steel is part of our strategic plan to develop low-carbon, modern and flexible steel plants and achieve our ambition to become carbon neutral by 2030,” said LIBERTY chief investment officer Sandip Biswas.

“From our technical assessment of the plant, we believe it can be benchmarked to the highest operational efficiency levels and integrated into our existing asset footprint thus combining our upstream advantages with efficient steelmaking assets and distribution networks close to market.”

The Dongbu plant consists of two 160-ton Consteel electric arc furnaces; two single-strand, vertically curved, thin-slab casters; and a hot strip mill. The plant has an installed liquid steel capacity of 3 million metric tons and a finished steel capacity of 2.85 million metric tons. 

LIBERTY said moving the equipment will allow its Galati plant in Ohio to move into electric arc furnace operations several years faster than previously planned, and at significantly lower cost compared with alternative options.