LNM Group, the world's second-biggest steelmaker, said it will buy a 69 percent stake in Poland's state- owned Polskie Huty Stali SA in an accord valued at $2 billion, including debt and investments
Published:
2 November 2003 y., Sunday
LNM will pay a total of 991 million zloty ($250 million) to cut some debt immediately and take on a further 3.4 billion zloty of debt to be repaid later. It also agreed to increase PHS's capital by 800 million zloty and invest 2.4 billion zloty by 2009. It bought the shares for less than 6 million zloty.
Netherlands-based LNM has expanded in central and eastern Europe by buying steel plants in Romania and the Czech Republic, making 8 million tons of steel a year in the region. PHS produces about 6 million tons annually. Poland is the largest of 10 countries set to join the European Union in May.
``The Polish economy is growing,'' LNM Chairman Lakshmi Mittal said in a telephone interview. ``When they become part of a larger Europe, it offers more opportunities for us in terms of our product mix and in terms of new markets.''
As part of the agreement, LNM will also provide PHS with a 300 million zloty bridging loan. In return, it will get more information on PHS's operations until the transaction is completed. PHS's four steel plants account for about 70 percent of Poland's steel market.
The Polish government started exclusive talks with LNM in July after rejecting an offer from U.S. Steel Corp., North America's largest steelmaker. The agreement with LNM is still subject to regulatory approval, LNM said, without elaborating.
Šaltinis:
quote.bloomberg.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
The mission held constructive discussions with Prime Minister Emmanuel Nadingar, Finance Minister Gata Ngoulou, Infrastructure Minister Adoum Younousmi, and other senior officials.
more »
The EBRD is helping to improve the quality of power supply and stimulate renewable sources of energy in the Caucasus with an €80 million sovereign loan to Georgia for the construction of a new high voltage transmission line - the Black Sea High Voltage line, which will interconnect Georgia and Turkey.
more »
The EBRD is helping to improve the infrastructure of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, with a €100 million loan for the construction of a new railway route bypassing the city.
more »
One of the men considered to be the founding fathers of the euro currency met MEPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday (16 March) to talk about transatlantic relations.
more »
European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht today opened a conference focused on the European Union's trade policy towards developing countries.
more »
At the beginning of the 2000s, state ownership in financial intermediation in Mexico accounted for about 20 percent of the total credit of the banking system, provided through development financial institutions and funds.
more »
Halving the number of business failures by offering individual support, doubling the number of young people who want to start their own business or raising by 500% the number of enterprising new cooperatives are just some of the projects nominated for the European Enterprise Awards 2010.
more »
The European Commission has published the fourth call for proposals for the creation and upgrade of freight transport services under the second Marco Polo programme.
more »
The European Central Bank (ECB) today announced a programme of technical cooperation with the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in collaboration with a number of euro area national central banks (NCBs).
more »
The EU disbursed today €1 billion to Romania, the second instalment of a €5 billion loan, which was agreed in May 2009 as part of a multilateral financial assistance package.
more »