Esmark Europe submits only valid bid for Železara Smederevo

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The bid came from Esmark Europe, a subsidiary of US company Esmark Steel. If the bid is accepted, it will acquire 80.01% of Železara Smederevo’s assets.

Negotiations between the Serbian government and Esmark should be complete around January 15-17 and a contract should be signed by January 31 at the latest, the mill’s chief executive director, Bojan Bojkovic, said.

Since the beginning of the bidding process, Esmark Europe has been seen as most likely to acquire Železara Smederevo.

Apart from Esmark, two other companies submitted offers for the steelmaker, but the Serbian authorities did not disclose their names.

Železara Smederevo is equipped with two blast furnaces and three basic oxygen converters that can melt 2.2 million tpy of crude steel, to be cast into slabs and subsequently rolled into hot and cold rolled coil. Only one of the blast furnaces is currently in operation.