Kremikovtzi AD

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Kremikovtzi AD (Кремиковци АД)
Type	joint-stock company
Founded	1963
Headquarters	Sofia, Bulgaria
Industry	metalworking
Products	cast iron, steel and others
Website	http://www.kremikovtzi.com/

Kremikovtzi AD (Кремиковци АД) is Bulgaria's largest metalworking company. The construction of its facilities began on 5 November 1960 and the first production capacities were put into operation in 1963 to produce cast iron and coke, with production extending to cover other areas in the 1960s and 1970s. The company was privatised in the 1999, 71% of it was acquired by a Bulgarian owned company — Daru Metals (later to change its name to Finmetals Holdings). In 2005 Valentin Zahariev and Kiril Zahariev sold 100% of Finmetals Holdings for US$110 million to Global Steel Holdings Limited (GSHL), owned by Pramod Mittal, brother of the highly successful Lakshmi Mittal. Kremikovtzi is not related to the Mittal Steel group.

Currently the new management brought by the Global Steel Holdings Limited has embarked on an investment program aiming to increase the product quality, reduce the production costs and widen the product range. The key focus of this was the finalization of the new Continuous Caster and a new Converter; both of these were finally put in full operation in November 2006, after being built for more than 15 years.

Most of Kremikovtzi AD's production is exported to the European Union, Turkey, some of the former Yugoslav countries, the USA and China. The profit was 120 million leva in 2003 and 80 million leva in 2004. However in 2005 the company generated losses of more than BGN 200 million.

Kremikovtzi AD acquired 70% of the LEMIND-FPL polyester-covered sheet iron factory in Leskovac, Serbia in January 2005, doubling its total output of sheet iron to 72,000 tons per year. The company also made another acquisition in April 2005, purchasing the Lamkos galvanised sheet iron factory in Kosovo. Both plants were disposed of upon Kremikovtzi's takeover by GSHL.

In November 2006, the debt obligations of the company were subject to extreme price Volatility as speculation mounted about the depth of commitment to the business by GHSL. Pramod Mittal issued a statement to reassure investors of his ongoing interest in Kremikovtzi's success; but this was not sufficient to dampen the ongoing volatility of the debt price. At the beginning of December 2006, GSHL issued another statement, this time committing to inject cash into the business on an ongoing, quarterly basis.