Liberty Steel Group to acquire Hayange and Ascoval steel plants in France

Liberty Steel Group (LSG), the steel manufacturing business of Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, has prevailed in its bid to acquire the steel assets of the Hayange plant owned by British Steel and the Ascoval steelworks plant, both located in France.

Last month, the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Strasbourg, a judicial court in Strasbourg, France, awarded Hayange to Liberty Steel Group, which was now been approved by the French government.

According to GFG Alliance, the deal will secure the future of the associated steel plants and their 700 employees.

The Hayange plant in Moselle, France manufactures a variety of steel rails for French national rail operator SNCF, RATP, and other nationally significant infrastructure clients. The steel plant in Moselle produces more than 300,000 tonnes of rail per year.

On the other hand, the Ascoval steelworks plant in Saint-Saulve, which uses electric arc furnace (EAF) technology, has a production capacity of 600,000 tonnes of steel blooms, billets, and other forged products per year from recycled scrap metal.

Liberty Steel Group to acquire Hayange and Ascoval steel plants in France. Photo courtesy of GFG Alliance.

Liberty Steel Group plans to initially invest €65 million in new financing for the Hayange and Ascoval plants to enact its industrial plan.

Sanjeev Gupta – Executive Chairman of GFG Alliance and Liberty Steel Group said: “Today is a landmark moment for the workers of Hayange and Ascoval, for the French steel industry, and for LIBERTY Steel Group’s GREENSTEEL ambitions in France. We have been interested in both of these sites for many years and have always believed that their futures were interlinked.

“We will revive both businesses, in a partnership supported by the extended GFG Alliance family, which I believe will be able to connect them to bigger opportunities in the market, host downstream developments, and provide additional demand for Ascoval’s steel.”