According to documents seen by Fastmarkets, the acquisition received the green light from the Office for the Protection of Competition of the Czech Republic (ÚOHS) on December 20, 2024, and the change of ownership will take effect from January 1, 2025.
“ We are convinced that this will strengthen the company and the Czech steel industry. The new industrial owner will bring stabilization and, above all, development to the company in the form of investments in production technologies, exchange of foreign know-how and a transition to environmentally friendly, low-emission steel production,” said Radek Struhal, CEO of Vitkovice Steel, in a press release .
Located in Ostrava, Vitkovice is the only plate steel manufacturer in the Czech Republic, with a production capacity of 800,000 tons of material per year. The company has been operating as a re-roller since the end of 2015, purchasing slabs from third parties in Russia, Asia and the European Union.
Sources reported that supplies of semi-finished products
Vitkovice mainly depends on the import of slabs of Russian origin, but in the future the company plans to purchase more semi-finished products from its new owner.
“In the coming years, we plan to source slabs from Jindal,” a Vitkovice representative told Fastmarkets, adding that the company currently has other suppliers.
According to Fastmarkets , the new owner has no plans to install a new electric arc furnace (EAF) or resume domestic slab production in the near future.
Vítkovice is the first European acquisition of the Jindal Group. The parties have been negotiating since the spring of 2024, Fastmarkets reports.
Jindal International Group plans to invest up to 150 million euros (155.4 million US dollars) in the development of the Ostrava plant in the coming years, mainly in expanding its capacity and production of products with higher added value.
Previous troubles with the owners of Vitkovice
Until 2014, Vitkovice belonged to the Russian company Evraz Plc.
In 2014, Evraz Plc sold its subsidiary Evraz Vitkovice Steel AS to a group of private investment companies registered in Cyprus for $89 million.
Ownership thereafter the plant became uncertain. Several sources told Fastmarkets at the time that the Cypriot companies were linked to Russia, in particular to VEB Bank and probably also to Evraz.
In May 2022, the Czech Financial Analytical Authority froze the assets of Vitkovice Steel , acknowledging that Russian owners are behind the Cypriot funds that own Vitkovice Steel.
However, the company is denied.
“The company is not owned by Russian organizations, it is owned by five transnational investment funds based in Cyprus and owned by people from the countries of the former Soviet Union, but not from Russia,” a Vitkovice representative told Fastmarkets at the time.
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The alleged connection of the property with Russia, which the company has repeatedly denied, was not confirmed, forcing Czech authorities to close the investigation in July 2024, allowing negotiations with Jindal.
