Green light from the European Union for the sale of assets to Liberty House in connection with the acquisition of Ilva

Press release

April 17, 2019 - After a conscientious analysis by the European Commission, the purchase of 5 ArcelorMittal units by Liberty House has been definitively validated. Among these assets is the ArcelorMittal Dudelange site. Proposed in May 2018, this transaction responded to a request made by the European Union for the acquisition of the Ilva S.P.A plant in Taranto (Italy) in order to preserve the competitive balances within the steel market in Europe.

Then ArcelorMittal proposed a set of sites including: Dudelange (Luxembourg), Galati (Romania), Ostrava (Czech Republic), Piombino (Italy), Skopje (North-Macedonia) and Liege (Belgium), sites of various activities as steel mills or finishing lines.

In November 2018, the European Commission postponed the acquisition by Liberty House to study this candidacy in more detail. As a result, the agreement was approved by the European Union while allowing the new acquirer, Liberty House, to bring more equity for the transaction.

The definitive sale should be completed before the end of the first half of 2019.

Liberty House

Liberty House is a steel company founded in 1992 in the United Kingdom. In 2017, the company acquired the steel division of Tata Steel Europe, including three sites in England. The company focuses on metal trading, metal recycling, steel and aluminum production and engineering.