Liberty Ostrava resumes production of some items

Czech steelmaker Liberty Ostrava, a subsidiary of British Liberty Steel, which is up for sale, has resumed production of rebar and road fencing under a tolling scheme, and this week will also resume production of seamless pipes. This was reported by Kallanish, citing sources.

The company is supplied with square and round billets by two separate companies.

According to the Czech press, Liberty Ostrava’s insolvency administrator Simon Petak notes that the restart of production should lead to the overall preservation of operations and the possibility of selling the plant as a going concern, which will satisfy the creditors’ claims.

According to České noviny, in the Liberty Ostrava bankruptcy case, creditors have filed claims for more than CZK 23.23 billion, the vast majority of which are unsecured claims. However, the insolvency administrator denies claims worth more than 15.2 billion, the vast majority of which are rejected by companies related to Liberty Ostrava.

According to Petak’s report submitted to the court, neither Liberty nor anyone else has yet proposed a reorganization as a solution to the bankruptcy, and he currently considers bankruptcy a more realistic option.

In June 2024, Liberty put its Ostrava plant up for sale after the local regional court initiated bankruptcy proceedings against the company. The plant has been virtually idle since non-payment of electricity bills at the end of 2023. The company hopes to find a new owner by the end of this year.

As GMK Center reported earlier, a number of parties were interested in selling Liberty Ostrava, mostly Czech companies. However, there was also talk of Indian Jindal Steel, whose delegation visited the plant in May this year.