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Report: ThyssenKrupp Wants Plant Offers by 28 September
08/24/2012 - ThyssenKrupp AG is inviting non-binding offers of purchase by 28 September for its plants in Calvert and Brazil, according to Brazil's Valor Economico business newspaper, as reported by Dow Jones Newswire.
ThyssenKrupp AG is inviting non-binding offers of purchase by 28 September for its plants in Calvert and Brazil, according to Brazil's Valor Economico business newspaper, as reported by Dow Jones Newswire.
Around 10 groups have shown interest in the sale, including the steelmakers Ternium SA, Companhia Siderurgica Nacional SA and ArcelorMittal, according to the newspaper.
The German steelmaker said in May that it wants to sell its carbon steel operations in Alabama and Brazil, following severe first-half losses. It has already segregated its stainless steel business, renaming it Inoxum, and plans, later this year, to sell it to Finnish company Outokumpu Oyi.
ThyssenKrupp officials would neither confirm nor deny that the company wanted sale offers by Sept. 28.
"The situation remains challenging at Steel Americas due to the operational ramp-up and the general economic environment," Thyssenkrupp Chief Executive Heinrich Hiesinger said in a statement. "Parallel to the ramp-up we are pressing ahead with the examination of our strategic options. We are seeing keen market interest and are holding talks with potential investors."
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which were appointed in June to conduct the Steel Americas sale, are now starting to distribute information on the two works to interested parties, Valor said, citing unnamed sources.
Last week, following increased raw materials costs and slower than projected growth in carbon steel demand, ThyssenKrupp Steel USA said that it will reduce the workforce of its Calvert plant by 197, 143 of which are hourly positions.
Before the changes, ThyssenKrupp employed about 1,653 people for the carbon steel side of the Washington County facility. Another 750 work on the stainless side there.
