Weeks before the idled Mexican steel company Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) was set to pay the Mexican government $112.5 million to repair damages to the state oil company, Pemex, tabloid newspapers published information about new investors interested in buying the company, among other topics, which AHMSA has denied.
Local media in the north of the country published the formation of a new group of Asian investors interested in buying AHMSA. Without mentioning information sources, they reported that it was called “Energy Power China” willing to invest $500 million to reactivate the Mexican steel company that has been idled by financial insolvency since the beginning of this year.
An anonymous source who is familiar with the restructuring process told SteelOrbis that the newspapers’ reports are not true, adding that the company is still in the process of selling to New York financial company Argentem Creek Partners, which last February signed an agreement to buy the Mexican steel company.
“There is no purchasing interest from Energy Power China,” the source confirmed to SteelOrbis.
Last August, SteelOrbis published that Alonso Ancira Elizondo, the main shareholder of AHMSA, reported that a company from China was among the partners of Argentem that brings as a partner the American Cargill and the Chinese investors who will be the operators of AHMSA and will invest $1.0 billion in three years. Although, among the requirements are that the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador agreed to restructure a million-dollar debt of around $500 million related to the federal administration.
At the beginning of 2021, Ancira Elizondo was released from prison after agreeing to pay compensation to Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) for the sale of assets under unfavorable conditions for the State company. He agreed that AHMSA will pay $216.6 million in three payments.
To date, around $104 million has been paid, resources that led AHMSA to insolvency and therefore to its productive paralysis. The third and final payment was agreed for next November 30 for $112.5 million.
Nine months after AHMSA asked for its restructuring plan to be approved, the López Obrador government has remained on the sidelines to approve it, directly affecting more than 13,000 workers who have not received payment for their wages and salaries for months. The number of workers indirectly affected is 60,000 in the northern region of the country.