ArcelorMittal is preparing to remodel its industrial tool in France, one of the countries where the world leader of the steel is the most present. On one side, it just put on sale two factories of steel wire that he has not managed to recover and was planning to close, at Commercy (Meuse) and Saint-Colombe-sur-Seine (Côte-d’or). On the other, it is, on the contrary, in the process of resume Lorraine Tubes, a company in trouble which needs him to bring four additional sites.
In total, the group controlled by the billionaire of indian origin Lakshmi Mittal prepares to increase the number of its industrial units in France, even though it is formally seeking to focus its efforts on a few very large plants, such as Fos-sur-Mer, Florange and Dunkirk.
It is beyond of the main strategic directions set by Lakshmi Mittal and his son Aditya, the group decides on a case-by-case basis and adapts to the local, including the political. Thus, the steel wires used to hold the corks of champagne, the manufacture of supermarket trolleys, etc
In 2016, ArcelorMittal had decided to withdraw from this business, as well as another held him as little bearer : the sheets of corrugated iron. These two activities were to be sold in its entirety. This is what has been done to the steel plates (Solustil), surrendered in early 2017 to two family groups of Italian, Cellino and CLN. For the steel wires, the process was more complex.
In search of buyers
Negotiations had been involved with the society of american investment Oaktree, which was to resume the affected plants in France, Luxembourg, Poland, etc, However, after reviewing the file in detail, Oaktree has waived in the summer of 2016.
Executives from ArcelorMittal have been tempted to close purely and simply the two plants and the most onerous, those of Commercy and Saint-Colombe-sur-Seine. “But politically, it…
