It is reported that the Russian steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) is interested in the acquisition of Russian ferromanganese producer Alapaevsk Iron and Steel Works located in the Sverdlovsk region from the Ukrainian business group Privat Group.
"We have so many problems with foreign investors. Alapaevsk Iron and Steel Works employed more than two thousand workers before, while today it employs 70 people. The plant has been stopped. Currently, we are carrying out negotiations with NLMK in relation to their bid to acquire this enterprise," the Sverdlovsk region's minister of industry and science Anatoliy Gredin stated.
According to Mr. Gredin, for a year now NLMK has been conducting negotiations with the Ukrainian side for the purchase of the plant, but the talks are proceeding "with great complications." The sides cannot agree on the price. According to the calculations of experts, the maximal market price of the plant is $10 million.
Alapaevsk Iron and Steel Works is specialized in the production of ferromanganese in blast furnaces and has an annual production capacity of 40,000 mt. The plant, 100 percent owned by Privat Group, stopped its operations in 2005, when it produced 13,000 mt of ferromanganese.