Reuters reported that ThyssenKrupp AG plans to sell its Alabama and Brazilian mills separately for at least the book value, which is about USD 8.8 billion combined.
The German steelmaker said in May 2012 that it wants to sell its carbon steel operations in Alabama and Brazil, following severe first half losses and years of delays and cost overruns. It has already segregated its stainless steel business, renaming it Inoxum, and plans, later this year, to sell it to Finnish company Outokumpu Oyi.
Mr Heinrich Hiesinger CEO of ThyssenKrupp said that "We may need two separate buyers, one for each plant. We at least want to fetch the current book value of the mills, which currently is around EUR 7 billion."
Analysts in the past year have calculated a value between EUR 3 billion and EUR 4 billion for each mill.
It was reported that about 10 groups have shown interest in the sale, including the steelmakers Ternium SA, Companhia Siderurgica Nacional SA and ArcelorMittal. It also was reported that the company wanted sale offers by September 28th 2012, but ThyssenKrupp officials would neither confirm nor deny the deadline.
Earlier this month, following increased raw materials costs and slower than projected growth in carbon steel demand, ThyssenKrupp Steel USA said that it will reduce the workforce of its Calvert plant by 197, 143 of which are hourly positions.
Before the changes, ThyssenKrupp employed about 1,653 people for the carbon steel side of the Washington County facility. Another 750 work on the stainless side there.
Source - Reuters
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