Liberty Group Announces Acquisition of European Steel Mills from ArcelorMittal

The UK-based Liberty House Group, a member of the GFG Alliance, has received conditional consent to acquire four integrated steel facilities from ArcelorMittal. The properties are part of the properties that ArcelorMittal has agreed to sell as part of the EU approval for the acquisition of Ilva SpA's Italian assets. The deal is subject to EU approval.

Accordingly, Liberty will acquire factories located in Ostrava, Czech Republic; Piombino, Italy; Skopje, Macedonia; and Galati, Romania. The acquisition of four plants is expected to increase Liberty's capacity by more than 15 million tonnes per year.

Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of the PG Alliance, called the agreement the biggest milestone to date. He noted that these acquisitions will help the company double its workforce and global manufacturing capacity. In addition, it will provide a strong presence at the heart of key manufacturing regions in Europe, he added. Incidentally, the four plants are estimated to have a combined annual capacity of around 8 million metric tons.

In addition, Liberty will also make additional investments in the acquired assets to become more competitive.

The acquisition is part of Liberty's strategy to expand its European capacity. The company recently acquired French aluminum wheel maker AR Industries. Prior to that, the company also announced the acquisition of Aluminum Dunkerque, Europe's largest aluminum smelter Rio Tinto.