TFS to lead steel mill consolidation

The State Treasury has prepared a plan for merging domestic producers of steel pipes and has made Andrzej Szarawarski, a Deputy Minister, responsible for the project. Towarzystwo Finansowe Silesia (TFS), a state owned company that is responsible for restructuring the steel mill sector, will implement the plan. TFS has already begun the consolidation process by acquiring a 68% stake in the bankrupt steel mill Huta Andrzej from the receiver. "We started running the firm on October 16," said Jerzy Bradecki, president of TFS. The next step will see TFS entering into Rur-Stal, a company created on the basis of the bankrupt Huta Batory mill. The plan is then to add WRJ Serwis to the holding, however, there are doubts about its legal status. The merged company will employ about 1,000 people and manufacture over 100,000 tones of steel products annually. The final shape of the concern might be affected by the plan to construct a direct competitor to the holding called Walcownia Rur Jedność. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 10) M.M.