Same five bidders enter second round for Romania’s Liberty Galați steel mill

Five companies have registered for the June 19 auction for the Liberty Galați steel plant, formerly Sidex, with the list of bidders unchanged from the first round held three months ago, according to News.ro.

The starting price has been reduced to EUR 444 million from EUR 709 million, while the deadline for the sale process has been extended by three months.

“There was interest from the same parties that subscribed to the first auction, who bought the specifications,” Paul Dieter Cîrlănaru, chief executive officer of CITR, one of Liberty Galați’s administrators, told News.ro.

According to Cîrlănaru, companies that had already purchased the tender documents were not required to do so again.

“Apart from the price, nothing has changed in the specifications. We have communicated with all the parties who bought it the first time and who have continued to be interested in this industrial facility. No one else came; there are the same five,” he said.

Representatives of the plant’s administration said the registered investors are UMB Steel, part of the Umbrărescu family-owned group active in infrastructure, metals, and energy; Metinvest BV, the steel and mining group controlled by Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov; Jindal Steel (International), which acquired the Ostrava steelworks in the Czech Republic in 2025; Greek steelmaker Sidenor Steel Industry; and Indian producer JSW Steel.

On April 8, Romania’s Competition Council approved UMB Steel’s acquisition of the ArcelorMittal Hunedoara steel plant.

Liberty Galați is one of Romania’s largest industrial assets and the country’s biggest integrated steel producer.

(Photo: press release)