History of Metinvest - Ukraine

Metinvest is a vertically integrated and largely self-sufficient steel and mining company. With over 11 million tonnes of crude steel production, Metinvest Holding LLC ranked amongst the top 50 largest steelmaker in the world in 2021. In 2022, the company's steel output fell by ~70% to under 3 mt because of destruction and damage to Ilyich & Azovstal during Russia's war with Ukraine.

The timeline below covers the history of the firm.

2006: Metinvest established 2006 as an SCM subsidiary firm.
2006: 100% stake acquired in Leman Ukraine LLC.
2006: Acquires 27% stake in Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works.
2007: Acquires 82.5% stake in Ingulets GOK (Ukraine).
2008: Completes acquisition of 100% stake in Trametal (Italy).
2008: Commissioning of new slab caster at Azovstal.
2009: Acquisition of 100% stake in the United Coal Company (USA).
2009: Acquires 95% stake in Promet Steel (Bulgaria).
2009: Establishes control of Makiivka Steel (Ukraine).
2010: Commissions new welded pipe production line at Khartszyzsk.
2010: Closure of merger deal with Ilyich Steel.
2011: Launching of BOF steel rails production at Azovstal.
2011: Acquisition of stake in Zaporizhstal Group.
2011: Commissioning of modern blast furnace at Yenakievo.
2012: Construction starts on Yenakievo air separation unit.
2012: Strategic plan announced to boost 2020 steel output to 25 mt.
2013: Siemens VAI contract signed - new Yenakievo sinter plant.
2013: Zaporizhstal Group equity stake increased to 99.8%.
2013: Upgrade announced for Azovstals blast furnace #4.
2013: Metinvest & Black Iron plan $1bn iron ore jv in Ukraine.
2014: Opens sales office in Romania – Metinvest Carpathia SRL.
2015: Ilyich closes open-hearth steel shop to develop BOF steelmaking.
2015: Announces major investment plans for Kriviy Rih ore mines.
2016: Invests $17 million for PCI at Azovstal BF#4.
2017: Hostilities force Yenakiieve I&S to halt operations.
2017: Acquires Ukrainian coking coal assets for consideration of $190m.
2019: Modernisation work on the Ilyich hot strip mill continues.
2020: Completes deal to acquire 73% of shares in Dniprovsky coke chemical plant.
2021: Invests over US$1 billion in new cold-rolled steel production facility.
2022: Dnipro Coke & Chemical Plant (DKHZ) changes name to Kametstal.
2022: Declares force majeure due to Russian invasion and sea blockade.
2022: Demands $10 billion compensation from Russia for damage to Ilyich & Azovstal.
2022: Evacuates employees from Avdiivka coking plant in Donetsk Oblast.
2022: Rinat Akhmetov sues Russian Federation for military aggression in Ukraine.
2022: Reduces production at Kamet Steel due to economic and logistical difficulties.
2023: Joins platform for recovery of Ukrainian metallurgy using green technologies.
2023: Announces investment in steel distribution centre in Poland.

Notes

1895: Origins of the Yenakievo Iron and Steel plant go back to the late 19th century. Two engineers - F. Yenakiev and B.Yalovetsky - and several Belgian businessmen - founded a Russian-Belgian metallurgic society. By 1897 this society had built a new cast-iron plant close to the Fyodorovka settlement. Coal mines were opened in the vicinity; and by 1898 the various local settlements were united into one single settlement called Yenakievsky [or Enakievsy] after the founder of the Russian-Belgian metallurgic society. Cokemaking facilities were added; and steelmaking commenced, attaining a production volume of several hundred thousand tonnes of steel per year just before the onset of World War I. Although renamed as the Rykovo Works and later as the Ordzhonikidze Works in the inter-war years (after Soviet statesmen), the name Yenakievo was reinstated in 1943. After World War II, concrete-based applications drove production of steelmaking at Yenakievo. More recent history includes investment in new BF#5 in 2007 and modernisation of BF#3 in 2010, with commissioning of PCI in blast furnaces #1, #3 and #5 expected in 2014.
1896: Two Americans Rothstein and Smith were in 1896 allowed by the Russian authorities to set up the Nikopol-Mariupol Mining and Metallurgical Society. The Ilyich Steel Works has its origins in 1897, when the society built a pipe workshop. The history is then a little unclear until 1927, when Ilyich can be identified as a significant machine-building plant with a broader product range including thick steel sheet and fabrication facilities including a sheet-finishing workshop. By the 1940s, the works expanded into production of iron and steel products for armor plating and similar military applications. Major plant reconstruction and downstream expansion then followed in the 1950s and 1960s, with investment in BOF steelmaking as well as hot- and cold-rolling. NKMZ supplied continuous HSM#1 which was installed 1961; Uralmash supplied the 4-high tandem CRM #1 installed 1963; Skoda Engineering of the Czech Republic supplied the 4-high plate mill #1 in 1983. Continuous casting was introduced in 1993, a new ERW pipe shop was installed in 1995, and privatisation of the plant (involving employee ownership) took place in the year 2000.
1933: Azovstal is one of the major integrated metallurgical enterprises in the Ukraine. The company was founded in 1933 when ironmaking started on BF#1. BF#2 was commissioned one year later, with OHF steelmaking starting in 1935. BFs and OHF steelmaking were closed down in 1941 because of World War II, with much of this equipment destroyed in 1943. Iron and steelmaking resumed in 1945, with blooming mill production commencing in 1948. Sinter production started in 1953, and production of steel rails in 1954. Construction of Plate Mill 3600 started in 1967 and was completed in 1973. Converter steelmaking started in the BOF shop in 1977 and in 1992 Azovstal received international approvals for the quality of its shipbuilding plate. BF#4 was started up after a major repair in 1999. Introduction of continuous slab casting took place in 2005, with Azovstal becoming part of the Metinvest Group in 2006.
2000: System Capital Management (SCM) was established to manage assets in the mining, iron and steelmaking and power industries. Over the next several years SCM Group developed these business interests acquiring (amongst other assets) equity stakes in the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works and in the Yenakievo Iron and Steel Works. [Note that Yenakievo Iron and Steel Works is also known as Enakievsky Metallurgicheskij Zavod or EMZ]. SCM is controlled by Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov who owns 100% of SCM's equity.
2005: SCM decided to undergo a program of corporate restructuring and to integrate assets of particular industries into different sectoral holdings. Metinvest was the holding for the iron & steel and related assets brought together in this restructuring.
2006: Leman Ukraine LLC is a leading Ukrainian wholesale and retail metal trading company.
2007: Ingulets GOK is a leading iron ore mining company based in the Ukraine.
2008: Trametal acquisition also involved the acquisition by Metinvest of Trametal's subsidiary Spartan UK Ltd (Great Britain).
2009: United Coal Company LLC (USA) is a leading producer of coking coal in the United States.
2012: Yenakievo air separation unit is being installed by French multinational Air Liquide, with EBRD funding.
Note: As at April 2012, Metinvest ownership was ~71% SCM, ~24% Smart Holding and ~5% Clarendale.
2013: Metinvest stake in Zaporizhstal Group was increased in May 2013 from 24.9% to 99.8%. The main asset of the Zaporizhstal Group is the Zaporizhstal Steel Works.
2013: Metinvest together with Canadian firm Black Iron together plan $1 billion of investment to develop the Shymanivske and Zelenivske ore mining projects in Ukraine.
2015: The investment plans for the Kriviy Rih ore mines involve expenditure of UAH 5.1 billion to develop the Northern, Ingulets & Central Iron Ore Mining and Enrichment plants. The funds will be directed into long-term projects and to upgrade the equipment of these enterprises.
2017: Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works and Krasnodon Coal Company (a coking coal producer) halted operations in Q1 2017 because of ongoing armed hostilities and a blockade of railway transportation between Ukraine and uncontrolled territory to the southeast.
2018: Ukrainian coking coal asset purchases included several extraction, enrichment and sale entities - the most significant of which was the Pokrovske Colliery and Svyato-Varvarinskaya Enrichment Plant. Together these form the largest coking coal extraction and production business in Ukraine.
2019: The reconstruction of the plate rolling mill (the Mill 1700 HSM) at Metinvest Group's Ilyich Iron and Steel Works is well underway. Total investments made by the Metinvest Group are likely to be USD 85 million or more. During mill reconstruction, five stands of the mill will be dismantled and will be replaced by a single more powerful reversing stand. The new stand will be equipped with an automated rolling process control system that produces high-quality feedstock for the finishing mill. In addition, a coilbox and a new high-pressure (about 202 bar) hydraulic descaler will be installed.
2020: Dniprovsky Coke and Chemical Plant was formerly known as the Evraz-Dniprodzerzhynsk Coke & Chemical Plant.
2021: In mid-2021 Metinvest launched a major $1 billion construction project for a new cold-rolled, galvanised and colour-coated coil production facility at Ilyich Steel in Mariupol. Italy’s Danieli Group will supply much of the plant and equipment.
2022: Kametstal now comprises the production facilities of the Dnipro Coke and Chemical Plant (DKHZ) and the metallurgical production of the Dniprovsky Iron & Steel Works (DMK).
2022: In March 2022, the firm suspended production at its Ilyich and Azovstal plants in Mariupol.
2022: The Avdiivka coking plant is the largest coking coal producer in Ukraine and one of the largest coke plants in Europe.
2022: Akhmetov claim against Russian Federation filed with European Court of Human Rights. It is understood that Metinvest intends to claim compensation for destruction of Ilyich Steel and Azovstal, and for damage done to the Avdiivka Coke Plant.
2023: This platform - the Ukraine Recovery Conference - brought together equipment manufacturers, consumers, financial institutions, government and other stakeholders. The primary objective of this Group is to revive the Ukrainian industry through an environmentally friendly, green transformation of steel production. This endeavor will support the national economy and population while also becoming a driver for supporting the EU's decarbonisation programme.
2023: New steel distribution hub in Poland will be located in Katowice and is intended to help increase Metinvest's European export sales.

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History of Metinvest - Ukraine