The Competition Authority on Wednesday gave a final green light to the takeover by the German steel group Saarstahl of the French steel and rail sites Ascoval (North) and Hayange (Moselle) which belonged to the struggling Liberty Steel group.
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"Considering that the operation is not likely to adversely affect competition, the Authority authorized the operation without conditions,"
said a press release on Wednesday, specifying that the full text of the decision would be published online
" later ”.
Indirect consequence of Greensill's bankruptcy
Following the financial setbacks of Liberty Steel and its boss, the British magnate Sanjeev Gupta, in search of funds after the bankruptcy in March of its main creditor the financial company Greensill Capital, Saarstahl had acquired the two French sites of Liberty Steel.
The project to acquire the Ascoval steelworks in Saint-Saulve (North) and the Hayange rail plant (Moselle), had been notified on June 11 to the competition authority which had granted on June 29 exceptionally, a
“derogation”
allowing the Saarstahl group to proceed with the buyout,
“without waiting for the final decision which has just been rendered”,
specifies the Authority.
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The Paris commercial court had also validated on August 2 the takeover offer, managed by the conciliator Marc Sénéchal.
With 270 employees, Ascoval produces “blooms” (steel bars) for Hayange (430 employees), which manufactures steel rails then intended for the main European rail networks, in particular SNCF Réseau and RATP.
Founded in 1975, Ascoval presents itself, after 150 million investments in recent years, as
"one of the most modern and ecological steelworks in Europe".
