Liberty Steel Group, part of the GFG Alliance, has announced that it will acquire the strategic French steel assets of France Rail Industry business (Hayange) located in Moselle, France and the Ascoval steelworks, based in Saint-Saulve in northern France, providing an initial €65 million in new financing for them to enact its industrial plan.
Hayange manufactures a wide range of steel rails for nationally significant infrastructure clients including France’s national rail operator SNCF and the operator of the Paris metro system RATP. The site employs around 430 people and produces annually 300,000 mt of rails.
Ascoval, which employs 270 people, uses an electric arc furnace (EAF) and has a production capacity of an annual 600,000 mt of steel blooms, billets and other forged products from recycled scrap. Ascoval will use recycled steel to supply Hayange, creating an integrated French GREENSTEEL rail business.
Liberty Steel Group’s GREENSTEEL model seeks to transform steelmaking through increased use of steel recycling in EAFs, application of low carbon and renewable energy sources to power industrial processes and use of hydrogen instead of coking coal as a reducing agent for iron ore through direct reduced iron (DRI) plants to remove CO2 emissions from steelmaking. The company’s GREENSTEEL strategy is an important step to realize GFG Alliance’s aim to become carbon neutral by 2030.
“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 intend to develop Ascoval as a GREENSTEEL hub and to drive Hayange into new markets through strong engagement with European rail operators seeking to make their networks carbon neutral. By designing a business based on a closely coupled circular economy, we believe Hayange and Ascoval can become the European leader in low carbon rail infrastructure,” said Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of GFG Alliance and Liberty Steel Group.