Ukrainian Steelworks Sold to Mittal Steel

Ukraine’s biggest steelworks, Kryvorizhstal, has been sold to Mittal Steel Germany GmbH for 24.2bn hryvnyas (about 4.8bn dollars). The auction was shown live on UT1 and 5 Kanal on 24 October.

The starting price for the state’s 93.02 per cent stake in Kryvorizhstal was set at 10bn hryvnyas (about 2bn dollars).

Sealed bids were accepted from three companies – Mittal Steel Germany GmbH, LLC Smart Group (Dnipropetrovsk), and the Industrial Group consortium. The Industrial Group consortium is made up of France’s Arcelor (60 per cent) and Ukraine’s Industrial Union of Donbass (40 per cent).

The Industrial Group consortium offered the highest initial price – 12.6bn hryvnyas. The other two bidders made identical initial offers – 10.5bn hryvnyas.

After the bids were opened, bidding proceeded between the companies.