"Dunaferr's iron and steel business has been successfully completed, but now needs to be repaired and prepared for a sustainable long-term future," Ajay Aggarwal, Liberty Steel's president for Europe, and Sandip Biswas, chief investment officer, said in a statement.
Just over a month ago, UK-registered Liberty Steel won the tender for Dunaferr. However, the sale has not yet been completed as the European Commission has yet to approve the purchase, leaving the liquidator to exercise ownership rights and make strategic decisions.
A spokesperson for Liberty Steel refused to comment on the statement.
The statement cites an agreement reached between the liquidator and Dunaferr's management regarding the challenging market conditions in Europe and in particular the high level of foreign steel imports into the EU, high energy prices and the additional costs of meeting EU carbon emission standards, and the need to suspend steel production while these conditions persist.
According to the statement, the liquidator has accepted Liberty's proposal to temporarily cease steel smelting for an unspecified period of time and to decommission blast furnace No. 2, the last of two BFs at the plant, and to technologically minimize the operation of the coke plant.
Liberty Steel has worked closely with the liquidator since the end of 2022, when Dunaferr was in a bad situation due to the closure of its main facilities, helping to restart steel production and rolling mills, as well as Dunaferr's blast furnaces and coke ovens.
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