Huta Czestochowa in Poland Starts New Chapter
Local media WNP reported that another chapter in the history of Huta Czestochowa has begun. The receiver of the bankrupt ISD Huta Czestochowa Mr Mateusz Bienioszek signed a lease agreement with Corween Investments which is part of the Liberty Steel group. The contract, signed on December 23, was to enter into force on December 28 after the tenant paid a deposit and rent. In the beginning of December, the receiver terminated the contract with Sunningwell International Polska, which had been leasing the Czestochowa steel plant for over a year. At that time, Mr Bienioszek started negotiations with Corween Investments.
The third tender for the purchase of Huta Czestochowa is to be concluded in January next year. The starting price is PLN 190 million. This is PLN 60 million less than in the first tender and PLN 30 million less than in the second. According to the unions, for the amount offered in the second tender, Liberty wanted to buy the steel plant freely. At that time, however, the leaseholder of the steelworks was Sunningwell, who therefore had the right of first refusal. Now that right belongs to Corween Investments. Bids should be submitted by January 21, 2021. A day later, the procedure for selecting the buyer will take place in the commercial court.
Huta Czestochowa wants to stabilize production at the level of 50 thousand tonnes per month in 2021. WNP reported that Liberty Steel smelter in Ostrava has already received an order for 5,000 tonnes of semis for the rolling mill of the Czestochowa steelworks.
WNP report added that according to Liberty Steel representatives, possible major investments will be possible after 2-3 years, when the production in the steelworks stabilizes. On the other hand, trade unions assure that Mr Sanjeev Gupta, president of Liberty Steel and Corween Investments, in earlier talks declared that he was aware that the smelter would not bring profits in the next three years, but would require additional investment. Of course, all of this is based on the assumption that Liberty will buy the smelter in the next tender.
120 year old Huta Czestochowa steelworks is in bankruptcy since September 2019. It electric arc furnace, ladle furnace & vacuum degasser to make steel from pig iron, scrap and alloying elements. This biggest plant of the Steelworks is where the plate is produced. The quatro reversing rolling mill with MULPIC system enables the production of many categories of plate suitable for multiple applications. After rolling, depending on its purpose, plate can be normalised, hardened, tempered. In addition, thermo mechanical rolling can be used to obtain appropriate strength parameters. Two separate cut to length lines allow to obtain plate of both standard and special dimensions.http://hutaczestochowa.pl/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/A_022_1.jpg
Source - Strategic Research Institute