Russian steelmaker Severstal has announced that its Austrian subsidiary Severstal-Trade Gmbh has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Ukraine-based Dneprometiz to a German private-owned company. Dneprometiz is the Ukrainian enterprise managed by Severstal-metiz, a group of companies which unites Severstal's metalware assets.
The sale of Dneprometiz will lead to a further efficiency increase at Severstal-metiz and will also allow Severstal to further enhance its profitability.
Severstal acquired 60 percent of shares of Dneprometiz in 2006 and subsequently further increased its stake to 98.6 percent. Currently, this entire stake is for sale. The transaction is expected to be completed in 2015, subject to an antitrust review and other customary closing conditions.
At present, Dneprometiz continues to operate at a high capacity utilization rate, but it is not operationally linked to Severstal's plants in Russia.