On June 19, Liberty Galati failed to attract a buyer in its second auction, despite a significant reduction in the starting price. The auction was launched at a liquidation value of €444 million for Liberty Galati, down from around €709 million in the first tender, while the total value of the sale package, including Liberty Tubular Products Galati, stood at around €463 million. Although five investors had remained in the process, no binding offer was submitted.
The interested parties were reported to include Romania’s UMB Steel, Ukraine-based Metinvest, India’s Jindal Steel International and JSW Steel, and Greece’s Sidenor Steel Industry. However, none of the investors moved forward with the required guarantee, suggesting that the lower price was not enough to offset concerns over the company’s financial burden, restart costs and the challenging conditions in the European steel market.
Liberty Galati remains under a heavy burden, with total debts estimated at around RON 4.7 billion, including major claims from state institutions and banks. Although the administrators have said that the search for a strategic investor will continue, the failure of the auction has increased attention on possible state-backed solutions. Local reports indicate that recent government measures could allow state-held claims at distressed strategic companies to be taken over by Romania’s state asset recovery authority, keeping the possibility of a state-supported restructuring option on the table. As a result, the plant’s future now appears to depend largely on the next decisions of creditors and the Romanian state authorities.
