Alexey Mordashov, CEO of Russian steelmaker OAO Severstal, spoke out Thursday regarding the recent criticism a US Department of Energy (DOE) loan Severstal North America's Dearborn, Michigan facility received. SteelOrbis previously reported that the Dearborn facility received conditional approval for a $730 million loan in July from the US DOE to aid in the mill's expansions and upgrades to provide light-weight advanced high-strength steels for the automotive industry. But in the last few weeks, US Representative Darrell Issa, and Republican Senators Dan Coats and Pat Toomey publically questioned the loan, indicating that the company could have easily paid for the expansion itself--considering that Severstal's CEO is one of the richest men in the world--and automotive steel's are far from short-supplied in the US market. Even Steel Dynamics CEO Keith Busse criticized Severstal North America applying for, and receiving, the loan.
However, Mordashov indicated that Severstal Dearborn saw the loan as an opportunity and applied for it, while other domestic competitors such as US Steel did not. Mordashov also noted that his personal wealth should not be a factor in the US DOE's decision, and neither should the fact that Severstal Dearborn is a Russia-owned company--the mill was built in the US, employs US citizens and pays US taxes, said Mordashov.