Five weeks have passed since the President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, affirmed that he authorized the restructuring of the debt with the federal government of up to MXN 5000 million (about $280 million) of the paralyzed steel company Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) and to There is no progress to date.
In the first days of May, the president said in his morning conference that he had sent a proposal to restructure the steel company's debt with the treasury, with the social security institute (IMSS), with Infonavit (mortgage loans) and with the state companies Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).
Since May, people familiar with the negotiations have rejected the fact that the president has sent AHMSA the restructuring proposal. They said that since March, US-based Argentem Creek Partners, which has an agreement to buy the controlling stake in the steelmaker, has unsuccessfully sought debt restructuring.
The restructuring is a fundamental step for Argentem Creek to access international financing to reactivate and modernize AHMSA, a company that has been paralyzed since the beginning of the year due to the lack of resources to pay for energy consumption (gas and electricity).
After five weeks, today Friday, the president repeated that the instruction that the Ministry of Finance has is to restructure the debt, but if there are new investors willing to inject capital into the steel company.
People familiar with the negotiations commented to SteelOrbis that so far "nothing has happened" (no progress has been made).
With more than $850 million dollars of investments in emerging markets, Argentem has already committed to injecting $200 million in working capital so that AHMSA, with a production capacity of 5.5 million tons of steel per year, can restart operations.
Today the president also expressed his discomfort with the current largest shareholder of AHMSA, Alonso Ancira, whom he described as corrupt due to his alleged political relationship with the political party that ruled Mexico for 70 years, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
AHMSA's productive paralysis is worrisome because 10,000 families depend economically on the company, a figure that rises to 70,000 considering indirect jobs. In the Monclova region, where the steel company is installed, there is a social crisis. The region's economy is semi-paralyzed.