Here you will find our press releases. Find out about the latest projects, orders, cooperations and other information about voestalpine.
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For Buderus Edelstahl, a voestalpine Group company, the economic conditions have deteriorated massively. In order to safeguard the international competitiveness of the special steel producer, the company management feels compelled to initiate a further restructuring program in the coming year in addition to the ongoing cost reduction and efficiency improvement measures. The plan is to reduce the proportion of in-house production within a product area, which will also be accompanied by an adjustment of the workforce. Over the last ten years, voestalpine has invested over EUR 300 million in the future viability of the plant.
In November 2019 the Management Board of voestalpine AG announced an investigation into the impact of the changing global economic framework conditions on the long-term positioning of all key business segments. At a Management Board meeting in Linz today, far-reaching decisions were taken based on the results of this analysis. The most recent changes in the global economy, primarily the global trade dispute, but also Europe’s continuing development as an economic region which clearly has a dwindling interest in a continuous industrial value chain, demand measures over and above purely short-term operative optimizations.
In the current business year, non-recurring effects in an amount of EUR 360 million will negatively influence the result of voestalpine AG. This charge essentially contains write-offs due to impairment of assets and is the result of the analysis of possible effects of the changed global economic conditions on the main business segments of voestalpine, announced in the last outlook.
Regarding the press release issued today by the Bundeskartellamt on the subject of the “Quarto plate cartel” voestalpine AG confirms its involvement in the stated proceedings and has consented to a settlement with the German Bundeskartellamt in which it will pay a fine of EUR 65.5 million. voestalpine became aware of the Bundeskartellamt investigation following a search of company premises in September 2017. voestalpine supported the Bundeskartellamt investigation from the start and has cooperated in full. The affected enterprises also included the Dillinger Hüttenwerke, Ilsenburger Grobblech, and thyssenkrupp Steel Europe.
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What is currently the world’s largest pilot plant for the CO2-neutral production of hydrogen has successfully commenced operation at the voestalpine site in Linz, simultaneously setting an international milestone in the advancement of new energy supply options. As part of the EU-funded H2FUTURE project, partners voestalpine, VERBUND, Siemens, Austrian Power Grid, K1-MET and TNO are researching into the industrial production of green hydrogen as a means of replacing fossil fuels in steel production over the long term.
For the voestalpine Group, the first half of the business year 2019/20 was defined by a substantial dampening of sentiment in its economic environment.
Permanent innovation is essential if voestalpine is to succeed in international and technologically sophisticated markets. The technology group has continuously expanded its research budget over the past decade, raising it by a total of 70 percent. Its current budget of EUR 184 million makes voestalpine one of Austria’s most research-intensive companies. Development focuses on the drive to digitalize the entire value chain, as well as on innovations for the mobility industry and CO2 reductions in steel production. voestalpine employs more than 700 researchers at 70 Group companies around the world and has secured over 3,000 proprietary patents.
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For years the USA has been a key strategic market for voestalpine. With 48 sites in the US and a local workforce of around 3,500 employees, the Group makes a significant contribution to value creation in the country. During his visit to the Styrian voestalpine factory in Kindberg today, Trevor Traina, the United States Ambassador to Austria, expressed his personal interest in the Group’s activities and its economic relations with the USA. A guided tour through the high-tech seamless tubes production facilities was followed by a discussion with voestalpine CEO, Herbert Eibensteiner, and voestalpine Management Board Member and Head of the Metal Engineering Division, Franz Kainersdorfer.
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voestalpine has successfully placed its first syndicated sustainability loan (Environmental Social Governance, ESG) for EUR 1 billion with its 13 most important banking partners. This sustainability loan runs to 2024 and replaces the previous loan which was also syndicated, i.e. financed by a group of banks. This makes the technology group one of the first companies in the industry to issue such an ESG-linked syndicated loan, the interest rate for which will also be linked to the Group’s sustainability performance. The ESG rating is issued by Sustainalytics, the leading global ESG ratings agency which has been measuring corporate sustainability for over 25 years.
The Management Board of voestalpine AG adopted a resolution today to call the entire issue of Hybrid Bond 2013 with a volume of EUR 500 million (ISIN AT0000A0ZHF1) (issued by voestalpine AG in 2013) in accordance with § 5 (2) of the terms and conditions effective on the first possible call date for this bond, namely 31 October 2019 (redemption date).