Celsa is considering selling Ostrowiec Steelworks

The Celsa Group is struggling with a large debt and is looking for solutions to reduce it. In connection with this, it is ready to continue selling companies abroad, including Poland, where it owns Huta Ostrowiec.

As highlighted by the Spanish business daily Cinco Dias, the company's debt of €1.896 billion has fallen by 48%, but is still high. The reduction was partly due to the sale of branches in Great Britain and Norway.

The next step would be to divest the business in Poland, which generates 20 percent of the group's revenue.

"A possible scenario could be the end of the war in Ukraine, which would increase the value of the steel business in Poland due to reconstruction needs," the Spanish daily said.

Villaseca stressed at Monday’s conference that the 2024 figures must be treated with caution because they are a “transitional and unusual” year in the company’s restructuring process. He said the company expects to turn a profit in 2026.

“We are out of the ICU, but we are still in the ward,” Villaseca said.

Founded in 1967, the Spanish group headquartered in Castellbisbal in the province of Barcelona is the largest steel producer in Spain and one of the largest in Europe. In 2023, ownership of the group passed from the Rubiralta family to the control of credit funds, which held a significant part of the debt and presented a restructuring plan, subsequently approved by the Barcelona court. It is to be implemented by 2028.

The Ostrowiec Steelworks is one of the largest industrial plants in the Świętokrzyskie province and metallurgical plants in central Poland. It is a producer of reinforcing steel and special types of boron steel. The Ostrowiec plant employs over 2,000 people.