FNsteel acquires the majority of the shares of Theis Group

FNsteel Group, part of the Dutch industrial investment group Hombergh Holdings B.V. (HHBV), has concluded an agreement to acquire the majority of the shares of Fried. Gustav Theis Kaltwalzwerke GmbH in Hagen (Germany).

Theis Group is a leading cold rolled steel company headquartered in Hagen, Germany with production sites in Germany, France, USA and India and five service centres located in Poland, Germany, Italy, Singapore and China. The Company has a turnover of around 250 M€ and employs 990 people.

The Company got into insolvency in February 2009 due to the economic crisis. This situation will be dissolved through this transaction. The purchase price is undisclosed. Completion of the transaction is pending, amongst others, on approval of the insolvency plan and clearance by the competition authorities, and is expected to be effected in January 2012.

FNsteel Group, which produces and markets long special steel products in the form of wire rod and PC strand, consists of six production units in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands. The turnover of the Group is around 400 M€ and the number of employees is 800. The steel production capacity amounts to 600 000 tonnes per year. Together with Theis, a diversified steel group will be created with a combined turnover of around 650 M€.

"Through this transaction, FNsteel will become a more diversified steel group, with a broad and solid basis". "We are looking forward to working with the management of Theis to make it a success for both our employees and our customers", says the CEO of FNsteel Group, Mr. Jacques van der Werf.

HHBV has invested, next to FNsteel Group which was acquired late 2010, in a number of industrial companies, including ZND, a manufacturing company which produces drawn wire for construction applications, BTE, a prefab concrete products manufacturer and CirclePrinters, a pan European printing business.

Mr. Hendrik Van Den Hombergh, founder and partner of HHBV stated "We are very excited about this transaction, which is a major step in our ambition of building a diversified metals group. I am also very pleased that Dr. Viola Prinzessin von Hohenzollern will stay at the Company in the position of Chairman of the Supervisory Board as I feel she can contribute her expertise to Theis and the whole group."

Mr. Michael Mittelstaedt, CEO of Theis, says "This is an important day for the future of the Company. By joining FNsteel Group, Theis has found the industrial partner to lead it out of insolvency and to further develop the business and its (inter)national growth."

The insolvency administrator Horst Piepenburg, Düsseldorf expressed: "This solution is the result of the extraordinary dedication of all the employees. These employees who were able to withstand all personal pressure in an Insolvency are the basis for a powerful standing of Theis in the future."