Ukrainian court cancels privatization of Kryvorizhstal

Ukrainian court cancels privatization of Kryvorizhstal

A Ukrainian court ruled on Thursday that the privatization of the country's largest mill, Kryvorizhstal, was illegal. As previously reported by SteelOrbis, Kryvorizhstal was sold to a group of local businessmen Viktor Pinchuk and Rinat Akhmetov for $800 million in 2004 even though foreign companies had bid nearly twice that amount for the mill. The recently elected Yushchenko government, acting upon the claims that the privatization was illegal, announced that Kryvorizhstal would be renationalized and then put up for privatization once again. The government also promised to look into nearly 3,000 privatizations that took place under the previous administration.