According to the press release issued by industrial service provider MAN Ferrostaal AG, the company's worldwide steel trading activities will be merged with the trading activities of CCC Steel GmbH & Co. KG on January 1, 2008, under the company name "Coutinho & Ferrostaal GmbH & Co. KG".
The merger, which will create one of the leading international steel trading companies in the world, is still subject to the approval of the Monopolies Commission.
MAN Ferrostaal AG, a 100 percent-owned subsidiary of MAN AG, is restructuring its steel trading activities. This business segment, which currently operates under the name Ferrostaal Metals Group, will be integrated into CCC Steel. MAN Ferrostaal will in return have shareholder rights.
CCC Steel is a joint venture between the MPC Münchmeyer Petersen & Co. GmbH Group, and the Mexican industrial group Grupo Villacero. Thus, MPC Münchmeyer Petersen & Co., Grupo Villacero and MAN Ferrostaal will each own one third (33.33 percent) of the new company.
The new company, which will have around 320 employees, is expected to have sales amounting to €2.1 billion in 2008. The central locations in Hamburg, Houston and Essen will be retained.
Commenting on the merger, Uwe T. Schmidt, member of the Management Board of MAN Ferrostaal AG and Chairman and CEO of the Ferrostaal Metals Group, said, "We must meet our partners on the supplier side, who are becoming larger and stronger, as an equal partner. Otherwise there is a danger that in future we will not be strong enough to play our role in this business in the required scope. The merger with CCC could serve as a role model in the market."
Dr. Israel Gutierrez, head of the Strategy and International Business segments at Villacero, says: "With this transaction we have come a significant step closer to realizing our strategic goal of expanding our core business and our worldwide steel trading activities and to facing up effectively to the challenges of consolidation and globalization in the steel markets. The merger of CCC Steel and Ferrostaal Metals is a decisive step towards enhancing our competitive position in the global environment."