Marcegaglia to take over insolvent Ascometal Fos-sur-Mer

The chamber of commerce at the court of Strasbourg, acting as liquidator for insolvent steel works Ascometal Fos-sur-Mer, has approved its takeover by the Marcegaglia Group.

Under the new name Marcegaglia Fos-sur-Mer, the Italian group has pledged to take over the entire staff of the site (formerly part of the Swiss Steel Group) which is located near the major city of Marseilles in the south of France, and to invest approximately 600 million euros in the works. The goal of these investments is to establish electric steel production of up to 1–1.2 million tonnes of crude steel, as well as to convert the current continuous ingot casting system into a continuous slab casting system and construct a hot rolling mill, which would bring total production capacity up to 1.6–2 million tonnes. Once its conversion is complete, the Fos-sur-Mer site will use efficient and sustainable production methods to supply about 30 percent of the Marcegaglia Group’s steel requirements.
“This important acquisition is part of the Group’s global strategy with the goal of integrating the entire value creation chain into our production facilities”, Antonio and Emma Marcegaglia explain. “In addition, the Grand Port in Marseilles is in a strategically favourable location in terms of raw materials and logistics. This major industrial conversion project and the innovative technologies it uses will make the Fos-sur-Mer site one of the most valuable assets for our Group.” According to the Marcegaglias, this investment is part of the Group’s comprehensive strategy to develop and decarbonise its activities. Steel manufactured from scrap and “green” sponge iron, “green DRI”, would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent compared to conventional production methods.
Source: Marcegaglia