NLMK Europe has appointed an unnamed investment bank to negotiate with potential buyers for its cold rolling and electro-galvanizing facility in Beautor, northern France. A company spokesman at NLMK La Louvière in Belgium told Kallanish that the French government has not imposed a sale deadline, but that the bank would normally expect to find a buyer before the summer. At the moment no-one has expressed a definite interest, Kallanish understands.

Representatives for Beautor's 230 workers met late-March and decided to give the green light to a sale. However, if NLMK doesn’t secure a buyer in time for Christmas, Beautor looks likely to be closed, sources add.

Beautor’s capacity is around 315,000 tonnes/year for CRC, with a further 250,000 t/y for electro-galv. However, it has a French sister company, NLMK Strasbourg, which has a larger HDG capacity of 400,000 t/y and which can produce up to 120,000 t/y of pre-painted. In Belgium, NLMK La Louvière has a 600,000 t/y CRC capacity.

Russia’s NLMK announced an extensive management rethink for its North European business last month, after the Walloon government’s Sogepa agreed to increase its stake in NLMK Belgium Holdings (NBH) from 20.5% to 49% (see Kallanish, 4 March).

NBH believes its new business plan will “ensure continuity of the group’s activities in Europe”. The aim is to optimise operational efficiency and adapt production to the prevailing market conditions, meaning that the group will be targeting specific markets, says NLMK Coating.