Romania Relaunches Sale of Liberty Galati at Lower Price

Romania is relaunching the auction for the valorisation of the Liberty Galati Steel Plant, formerly known as Sidex, at a reduced price of 70%.   At the first auction, held last month, no bids were submitted. Following the procedure, five strategic investors from Europe and Asia had purchased the tender book for €10,000, some of whom had already visited the steel plant.   The five major investors who bought the tender documentation are MetInvest (Ukraine) – owned by billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man; UMB Group (Romania) – owned by Dorinel Umbr?rescu; KMC (Turkey); JSW; and Jindal Group (India). However, in this first auction, although five investors purchased the tender documents, none submitted the 7% guarantee of the total value, meaning they were not willing to pay €709 million.   A second auction will now be organized, at a reduced price of €444 million.“The market value of the Steel Plant’s assets has been revised following an evaluation update, as several errors occurred in processing the valuation report data,” the amended restructuring plan of Liberty Galati states.   According to the document, the market value has been reassessed at 3.23 billion lei, while the liquidation value stands at 1.9 billion lei. Previously, both indicators were higher because they included assets later disposed of after the valuation reports were prepared (such as a residential building), or assets for which the company had no ownership rights (for example, structures built by Linde on Liberty Galati land). The main debts currently held by Liberty Galati are toward Exim Banca Româneasc?, totaling 1.5 billion lei, following two loans worth €292 million intended to restart operations.   The second largest creditor is the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), with 273 million lei, plus an additional 417 million lei under legal dispute. The Galati City Hall is also owed 44 million lei in unpaid taxes and fees. Another important state creditor is the Prut River Basin Administration, with 2 million lei.   Over 633 million lei is owed to unsecured creditors, including around 1,200 companies without collateral or guarantees for the amounts due. In total, Liberty Galati’s debts amounted to nearly 3.4 billion lei in April 2026.