In 2006, Russian
steelmaking companies spent more than $5 billion on the purchase of new assets. Although the areas of interest as well as the locations of the assets in question differed from one company to the other, three main trends could be identified in the approaches of the main Russian steel producers, such as
NLMK,
Severstal,
MMK, Evraz Group and
Mechel. Thus, in 2006, these companies in their own domestic market moved to buy raw material assets such as
iron ore,
coking coal and
scrap processing. At the same time, they set their sights on acquiring high value added
production facilities (mainly
galvanized steel and large diameter
pipe) in both the domestic and international markets. Yet, besides the acquisition of new facilities in 2006, the Russian steel giants were also focused on selling off unprofitable assets, which were either located away from
production facilities (in the case of raw material assets) or else which had been unprofitable. Also in 2006, Russian steel magnates were not simply buying just any assets offered for sale, but rather were following the path of the steel industries in developed countries, i.e. a path of vertical integration and consolidation - self-sufficiency in raw materials, acquisition of new high value added steel products in targeted markets and the sale or closure of non-profitable assets.
Novolipetsk Steel (
NLMK) was a leader among the above-mentioned Russian companies in acquiring new assets in 2006, spending approximately $2.2 billion. Like the other companies,
NLMK was following a definite path in its acquisitions. As regards self-sufficiency in raw materials, in 2006
NLMK acquired two large assets – a 100 percent stake in Prokopevskugol and an 82 percent stake in Altai-koks. The acquisition of stakes in these two enterprises not only ensured
NLMK's supplies of key raw materials at a low cost but also made the company a significant player in the coke market (Altai-koks is the largest Russian coke producer). In August 2006,
NLMK decided to sell its
iron ore asset, KMA-Ruda, which it had bought earlier in the year. The company based its decision on the strategic calculation that the development of its existing
iron ore assets, such as Stoilensky GOK, regarding which
NLMK had already started an investment program, would be more profitable for the company, than to develop the new underinvested asset. As for acquiring new high value added
production facilities, in 2006
NLMK secured its presence in the European and the
US steel markets, by acquiring 50 percent in a joint venture company with Duferco, to which will be transferred a number of Duferco's European and US
production facilities, and also by obtaining full control of Danish steel producer DanSteel. However, in addition to this, it managed to establish a monopoly in the Russian domestic transformer steel market, by acquiring
Russia's only transformer steel producer VIZ-Stal.
Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (
MMK) was only partly successful in its vertical integration and consolidation projects in 2006.
MMK might be considered as the only one of the large Russian steel producers which still lacks major foreign assets. In 2006, the company tried to change this situation by focusing on Asia and North
Africa for foreign acquisitions. As early as March 2006, there was a report that the local government in
India's Orissa province had allocated land to
MMK for the
construction of a plant worth $10 billion. Yet no further announcement was made in relation to the issue. Instead,
MMK was a part of the consortium that won the tender for the purchase of a 75 percent stake in
Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation in May. It seemed to be a good deal at the time in that it would allow
MMK to strengthen its position in Asia. However, by late May
Pakistan's Supreme Court had pronounced the sale illegal. In September,
MMK made another attempt at foreign expansion by signing a cooperative agreement with
Morocco-based Maghreb Steel which was to lead to the establishment of a joint venture. It looked like
MMK had decided to slow down its steps in foreign expansion after the failure with
Pakistan Steel Mills. Attempts at domestic acquisitions of high value added steel product facilities were not very successful for
MMK in 2006 either. The company participation in the VIZ-Stal tender did not bring about the desired results. The main success of
MMK in terms of acquisitions in 2006 was the license the company won for the development of the Prioskolskoye
iron ore deposit. Mainly depending on imported
iron ore from
Kazakhstan,
MMK had experienced some problems with supplies of
iron ore in 2005. The right to develop the Prioskolskoye
iron ore deposit has made the company self-sufficient in
iron ore.
Severstal, being a more or less vertically-integrated company, focused on foreign expansion in 2006. The company's main targets were
flats and
galvanized steel producers. In March, there was a report that
Severstal was in a serious stage of negotiations with north
China's largest finished steel producer, Tonghua Iron and Steel Group, for the acquisition of a minor stake in the company. At the same time,
Severstal participated in the tender to buy
Estonia's largest
galvanized producer, Galvex. However, neither project worked out. Yet already in June, right in the middle of the hostile takeover offer made for it by Mittal Steel, Arcelor announced a merger with
Severstal. The successful outcome of the merger was to solve many of
Severstal's problems and allow the company to raise its presence in many of the world's markets. However, Arcelor's shareholders preferred the hostile takeover offer of Mittal Steel to
Severstal's bid. As a result, the Arcelor-
Severstal merger was annulled. In the Russian domestic market,
Severstal's main development was the inauguration of the Izhora
Pipe Plant which specializes in the
production of large diameter pipes used in pipeline
construction. With the frequent announcements of new gas and oil pipeline constructions, this investment of
Severstal's may prove to be a very profitable one since currently
Russia experiences a scarcity of these types of pipes.
In the first half of 2006, Evraz Group mainly focused on the development of its mining interests. In February, the company announced the creation of a joint venture with Mitsui to develop the Denisovskoy coal deposit in Yukutia (
Russia), while in May Evraz acquired two other coal deposits in
Russia - Mezhdurechenskaya Coal Company-96 and Razrez Razpadskiy – with a view to increasing its
coking coal production capacities. Evraz also focused on high value added vanadium
production. Evraz produces vanadium slags in
Russia, yet the company lacked processing facilities. The company effected a change in this situation by acquiring a 70 percent stake in the US-based Strategic Mineral Corporation (Stratcor) in April and a 25 percent stake in Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corp. Ltd (South
Africa) in July. As for high value added steel products, in late August Evraz was able to complete the buyout of Vitkovice Steel – the largest
plate producer in the Czech Republic. Later, in November, the company announced the acquisition of the US steelmaker Oregon Steel. In 2006, Evraz had also revised its Russian
production facilities, deciding to shut down Stal NK, the daughter company of its subsidiary NKMK. Evraz Group itself had undergone some significant developments in 2006. In June, a 41 percent stake in Evraz Group was bought by Millhouse, which represents the interests of Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich. Directly after this development, there was much speculation that the Evraz Group would become the heart of Russian steel industry consolidation. However, no subsequent action in this direction was seen.
As regards
Mechel, in 2006 the company mainly concentrated on developing its raw material segment. The company started the year with the sale of its
Kazakhstan-based coal reserves in February, due to their unprofitability. In April, the company bought Russian
scrap processing company Metals Recycling (capacity of 178,000 metric tons of
scrap per year) to be able to rely at least partly on its own
scrap supplies. To ensure steady supplies of coke for its plants, the company acquired a 100 percent stake in Moskoks in October. As for high value added steel products, in September
Mechel indicated that it was considering the possibility of selling its
Romania-based plants due to increased costs and their low profitability. However, the company has not made any final decision yet.