The investment of a new shareholder in the steel company Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) is a condition required by the signing of the term sheet signed in February. However, the process is also subject to the federal government deferring the payment of $112.5 million of the compensatory agreement with Pemex for 9 months and that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) release the company's bank accounts.
To strengthen the capital injection through a new investor, the president and vice president of the board of directors, Alonso Ancira Elizondo and Xavier Autrey resigned from their posts. The two businessmen own Grupo Acerero del Norte (GAN) with 55 and 45 percent of the shares, respectively. GAN owns 51.6 percent of the steelmaker's shares. That is, Ancira through GAN has 28.4 percent of the total shares of AHMSA and Autrey 23.2 percent.
"The scope of terms and conditions of the aforementioned term sheet is recognized as applicable and mandatory to AHMSA," the company informed the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV), on Friday afternoon.
The agreement signed on February 20 by the company's largest shareholder, GAN, was approved by the Board of Directors on February 23 for the "benefit of the shareholders," the company report says.
The signed agreement is related to "corporate restructuring, capitalization, sale of unproductive assets and/or financing to the company, including the formation of the joint venture," AHMSA explained to the BMV.
The resignation of the chairman and vice-chairman of the board of directors, like four other directors, is "to facilitate the eventual appointment of a new Board when the Conditions (...) are met, under the terms of the term sheet".
Subject to the new investor appointing the new board of directors, the company will agree to a "Mini-Dip" financing (Debtor-in-Possession, DIP) with the new investor to reactivate the productive operation of the company with $200 million, the first part that was not carried out was to inject $50 million by March 15 and the remaining $150 million before May 15.
The name of the new investor and the percentage of the shares that he will buy have not been disclosed at this time.
In addition, according to the agreements approved by the shareholders' meeting on March 31, the agreement is also subject to the fact that the country's state companies: Pemex and the CFE have restored the supply of gas and electricity. The first injection of $50 million is to pay those outstanding debts of AHMSA.
It is also subject to Pemex agreeing to defer the third payment of the compensation agreement signed in 2021, to compensate the state oil company for the sale of a fertilizer plant (Nitrogen) under conditions considered "disadvantageous" for Pemex. The total compensation agreed is $216.7 million, divided into three payments.
The first payment was in November 2021 for $50 million, the second was for $54.2 million in November 2022 and the third payment for $112.5 million is scheduled for November 2023. The latter is expected to defer to August 2024.
In addition, another condition is that the unit in charge of preventing and combating crimes of operations with resources of illicit origin, the UIF, has unblocked all bank accounts of AHMSA or subsidiary or affiliated companies of Grupo Acerero del Norte.