Kazakhstan is determined to change the owner of ArcelorMittal Temirtau

The relevant ministry notes that the change of investor cannot be forced

Minister of Industry and Construction of Kazakhstan Kanat Sharlapaev commented on the possible change of owner of ArcelorMittal Temirtau, informs Kazinform information agency. The official denied the information about the forced transfer of the enterprise to another investor.

However, according to him, if an investor wants to work in Kazakhstan, he must obey the requirements of the legislation, in particular, regarding industrial safety and ecology.

«The change of investor is a voluntary desire of one investor to replace himself with another. Someone has to go and transfer their share to another person. And now in this case it is about the following. There is a sufficient number of incidents on which the state is working. And when she completes it, I think there will be consequences for the company,» the minister noted.

Recently, the deputies of the lower house of the parliament of Kazakhstan demanded from the prime minister and the general prosecutor to conduct a fair investigation into the accident at the mine Kazakhstanska AMT, where five people died. In addition, parliamentarians call on the Indian owner to leave the country. Earlier, the Kazakhstan Confederation of Labor asked the government to review the agreement with ArcelorMittal to the point of severing relations.

In addition, according to Kazakh newspaper “Vremya”, the Baytak party of the greens filed a lawsuit with the economic court of Karaganda regarding the profile committee of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources to declare invalid/illegal issuance of permits for emissions into the environment to the steel department of ArcelorMittal Temirtau.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in August 2023, the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan reported on possibility of sale of the country’s largest steel mill, ArcelorMittal Temirtau, to Russian investors, as a number of local media reported. It was about the fact that the authorities are negotiating with the company’s shareholders regarding their exit from Kazakhstan business.

Also, in June 2023, ArcelorMittal Temirtau had an emission of coke in the blast furnace, an inspection was ordered based on this fact.