Kryvorizhstal
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Kryvorizhstal (Ukrainian: Криворіжсталь, Russian: Криворожсталь; officially Mittal Steel Kryvyi Rih) is a large integrated steel company located in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih. Recently bought by the Mittal Steel, the company is one of the most important businesses in Ukraine and a globally-important steel producer. Particularly, it is the largest steel manufacturer in Ukraine and largest manufacturer of both reinforcing bar and wire rod in the former Soviet Union. The company also produces processed iron ore concentrates for both own use and market.
In 2004, Kryvorizhstal produced about 7.08 million tonnes of crude steel. As of 2005, the company employed about 57,000 people.
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[edit] Names
- Official names:
- Ukrainian: Відкрите акціонерне товариство "Міттал Стіл Кривий Ріг" (ВАТ "Міттал Стіл Кривий Ріг")
- English: Mittal Steel Kryvyi Rih Joint Stock Company (Mittal Steel Kryvyi Rih JSC)
- Former official names:
- Ukrainian: Відкрите акціонерне товариство "Криворізький гірничо-металургійний комбінат "Криворіжсталь" (ВАТ КГМК "Криворіжсталь")
- English: Kryvorizhstal Mining and Metallurgy Kombinat JSC (KGMK Kryvorizhstal JSC)
[edit] Structure
Located fully in Kryvyi Rih, Kryvorizhstal is the largest and most up-to date steel company in the Kryvbas region (as well as in the whole Ukraine). It was built as an integrated mining and metallurgy plant (Ukrainian: комбінат, kombinat), comprising of:
- iron ore mines
- ore processing factories
- coke-processing, oxygen and other auxiliary metallurgical facilities
- metal fusion workshops of different types
- metal-rolling workshops
Company's iron ore needs are satisfied by both its own processing and the supply by other ore companies of Kryvyi Rih. Instead, Kryvorizhstal sells part of its processed ore on the market.
[edit] History
[edit] Soviet times
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Kryvorizhstal (as it is historically named) is the newest steel industry in Ukraine. It was built by the Soviet government in the middle of 20th century, exclusively for exploiting of the newly-discovered Kryvorizkyi Basin ore deposits.
[edit] Privatization
Kryvorizhstal became internationally known when it was privatized in June 2004 for a sum of USD800 million, against a government-set reserve price of USD714 million, to a consortium called Investment-Metallurgical Union. This consortium was made up of Rinat Akhmetov's SCM and Interpipe Group, controlled by then-President Kuchma's son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk. Offers exceeding USD1 billion from foreign investors were rejected on a technicality. The deal has been widely criticized by the opposition and abroad as an example of corruption and state property mismanagement.
By initiative of the new President Viktor Yushchenko, the privatization deal was dismissed by the court in June 2005, in order to sell the company again in a fair auction. Mittal Steel acquired the 93.02 percent stake in Kryvorizhstal on October 24, 2005, for USD4.81 billion. The price far exceeded analyst predictions of USD3 billion, making it the largest privatization deal in the former Soviet Union, and arguably in the world.
The bidding process was broadcast live on Ukrainian television, while President, Prime Minister Yekhanurov and former Prime Minister Tymoshenko were following the process from the next room.
