After weeks of uncertainty over the future of the Ascoval steelworks in Saint-Saulve (North) and the Liberty Rail factory in Hayange (Moselle) owned by the company Liberty Steel, of the GFG Alliance group, in great financial difficulty , a series of press releases published on Thursday 1er July and Friday July 2 finally reassured employees. Without yet knowing with certainty the name of the buyer, they now know that their businesses have every chance of being transferred to the future owner as part of an amicable procedure, without social damage or interruption of activity. Thus escaping bankruptcy and collective proceedings.
On Friday, relief dominated among the 270 employees of Ascoval as among the 450 employees of Liberty Rail Hayange. “It’s been three months since we knew what to expect. This procedure was the best option for us ”, says Nacim Bardi, CGT union representative in Saint-Saulve.
The agreement in principle with Saarstahl does exist, and that it has “Very strong chances” to materialize
Thursday evening, Bercy indeed announced that the German steel group Saarstahl had found a ” agreement in principle “ with Liberty Steel France (LSF) for the acquisition of the two sites. What Saarstahl confirmed on Friday; but not Liberty. ” Although we want to keep LSF within the Group, we have also identified two credible buyers, ArcelorMittal and Saarstah ”, only replied to World a spokesperson for the group. A fool’s game for ArcelorMittal to improve its offer, indicates a source familiar with the matter, confirming that the agreement in principle with Saarstahl does indeed exist, and that it has “Very strong chances” to materialize.
The sale should be completed in the coming weeks, less than a year after the takeover of the two sites by Liberty Steel, in August 2020 at the bar of the court at the end of an endless industrial soap opera.
“An interesting partnership”
The coupling of Ascoval – which transforms the raw material into a semi-finished product – and the France Rail Industry factory in Hayange – which transforms the finished products into long section rails, sold to the SNCF – was pushed by Bercy and the judicial mediator, Marc Sénéchal, to create an autonomous upstream-downstream steel sector. Since then, Ascoval has changed its casting process to produce blooms (square steel bars), with Hayange becoming its main customer. The ailing steelworks saw order books fill up. “Ascoval had the capacity to produce steel, but few customers. We had customers, but no steel. We were able to find an interesting partnership ”, summarizes Gérard Glas, president of Liberty Rail Hayange.
You have 53.09% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.