Liberty Steel’s application to purchase the Polish heavy plate steelworks, Huta Częstochowa, was accepted by a local District Court in Poland on Jan 22, according to local media reports last week.
Through Liberty’s investment vehicle Corween Investments the company offered PLN190mn ($50.8mn) for the assets of the former bankrupt mill in Poland.
Dominik Bogach, a spokesman for the Czestochowa District Court, said that the commissioner-judge had approved the application through a decision last week and will become final by Jan 29. Corween Investments will have four months to transfer the funds thereafter.
Liberty Steel resumed raw steel production from Huta’s electric arc furnace on Jan 18. Liberty’s investment vehicle Corween Investments is reportedly in the process of changing the legal entity’s name to Liberty Częstochowa.
Corween Investments became the lessee of the steelworks under an agreement signed on December 23, 2020, with the trustee of the bankrupt ISD Huty Częstochowa.
The Polish plate mill hit headlines in July last year when China-backed investment vehicle Sunningwell International was selected by the local District Court to acquire the steelworks. Sunningwell’s lease was terminated as steel production was suspended and the company failed to meet its financial obligations for the acquisition.
Liberty Steel is reported to have entered a lease agreement, which will last until July 2021 by which point the Polish government hopes to have concluded the sale of the plant.
Huta Częstochowa is equipped with an 800,000mt per year electric arc furnace (EAF) and continuous casting lines which are connected to a 1.2mn mt per heavy plate rolling mill and are integrated with its own scrap processing yard.