Steel Company
MCI's steel industry consultants are able to assist businesses (or groups of companies) with corporate restructuring. This is an activity that we have undertaken for many firms seeking to privatise or to attain commercial viability. This is also an exercise that we have undertaken for many different governments wishing to get their steel sectors into better shape. The structural forces underlying many such mandates — persistent overcapacity, barriers to exit, and the cost of state support for unviable operations — are examined in our published analyses of zombie steel mills and state aid and steel overcapacity and barriers to entry and exit.
Our experience includes performance improvement work at integrated steel plants, at mini mills, and at stand-alone downstream facilities (flat or long product manufacturing, or steel tube production). This includes pre-privatisation turnaround support.
The business diagnosis typically requires market, technical and financial assessments by a team of expert consultants, working intensively for some weeks. More often than not, business turnaround has capital investment, divestment and /or associated organisational implications (relating to re-definition of the core business; to business spin-offs and / or outsourcing of selected services; to manning levels and organisational restructuring; to measurement, control and reward systems; and more) if near-term viability is to be achieved. Work on strategy; on management action plans; on definition of milestones; and on task responsibility for management is invariably also involved.
Business restructuring of this form is often a necessary step for companies that are in administration and / or for metal sector firms wishing to embark on the path to privatisation [or beyond]. The challenges involved — balancing the interests of employees, governments, and lenders while charting a viable commercial path — are well illustrated by the case of British Steel's Scunthorpe transition from integrated steelmaking to green steel rerolling. Frequently, restructuring is a process that is opposed by employees who are concerned about their futures; and is an exercise that must be handled with sensitivity to the concerns of all stakeholders.
Financial evaluation is typically also involved, requiring assessments of current and future profitability (including product mix, value added potential, cost competitiveness etc), and may necessitate deliberations on balance sheet strength and debt restructuring.
Please call us for a preliminary no-obligation discussion about how we might be able to assist you. To review examples of completed restructuring and turnaround assignments, see our case studies and the full project experience record. For clients where conflict-free analysis is a requirement — including governments and development finance institutions — our independence policy explains our structural approach.
