Dec 7 2007
ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel company, today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of OFZ, a.s, one of the leading Central European manufacturers of ferro-alloys.
OFZ is involved in the manufacture of a wide range of ferro-alloys on the basis of manganese and silicon, namely ferromanganese, ferromanganese silicon and ferro-silicon. Other activities include the production of cored wires.
The plant, located in the north of Slovakia, is in close proximity to ArcelorMittal's eastern European mills, including Ostrava and Poland to whom it has historically been a supplier. With an annual operating capacity of 150,000 tonnes, through the use of six furnaces, OFZ produced 141,000 tonnes of ferro-alloys in 2006.
Aditya Mittal, CFO and member of the Group Management Board of ArcelorMittal, said: "This acquisition further strengthens our ferro-alloy supply portfolio, following our recent announcement that we had entered into a strategic equity partnership to develop the Kalagadi Manganese's manganese resources in South Africa. As the largest consumer of manganese alloys in Europe, we are excited by this opportunity and we look forward to integrating the OFZ operations into the ArcelorMittal group".