The voestalpine Group continues to extend its global leadership in the railway infrastructure sector and has agreed to acquire the Bathurst Rail Fabrication Center (BRFC) located in Australia. This specialist for high-quality welded rails, turnouts, and track components has a staff of around 60 employees and generated annual revenue of around EUR 34 million last year. With its turnout and rail welding plant, BRFC is the key railway competence center for Sydney Trains which in turn operates a majority of the railway network in the Australian state of New South Wales.

In a new permanent exhibit voestalpine considers the fate of laborers under the National Socialist regime, forced to work at the Reichswerke Hermann Göring in Linz, the site of today’s voestalpine Group headquarters. The exhibit is based on recent research as well as an examination of 38,000 National Socialist personnel files and salary slips. The historical exhibit marks another important step in voestalpine’s process of appraisal of National Socialism, coming to grips with its own past and accepting responsibility for its own history.

The technology and capital goods group voestalpine is again driving forward its activities in the promising Asian market. The Special Steel Division, the Group’s special steel sector, yesterday signed a Letter of Intent to cooperate with Chinese foundry Kocel Machinery Co., LTD. Over the next few years voestalpine will invest around EUR 140 million, constructing a new plant which will produce premium special steel products for the Chinese market. Construction is scheduled to start in 2015, and the new company will create 400 jobs.

From January 1, 2015, press spokesman Peter Felsbach (37) will take over as Head of Corporate Communications at the voestalpine Group. He succeeds Gerhard Kürner (44) who is leaving voestalpine of his own accord and on the best of terms. voestalpine’s unchanged strategic objective as a globally active Group is to drive forward communications at an international level while consistently focusing on the 2020 Group Strategy and sustainably maintaining the renowned high corporate information standard in spite of permanent growth.

voestalpine is a strong partner for more than just the automotive industry – the steel-based technology and capital goods group has long made a name for itself in the aerospace segment, where components and materials with the highest quality requirements are needed. At the Red Bull Air Race on October 25 and 26, the fastest motorsport in the world will nominate its world champion directly in front of the voestalpine wing in Spielberg.

Wolfgang Eder, Chairman of the Management Board of the voestalpine Group, today became the first Austrian Chairman of worldsteel at the World Steel Association’s Annual General Meeting. For one year he will lead one of the world’s largest steel industry associations, with around 170 association members representing 85% of world steel production.

Steel-based technology and capital goods Group voestalpine has signed an agreement (‘Signing’) with the Polytec Group for the takeover of voestalpine Polynorm Van Niftrik and voestalpine Polynorm Plastics (Plastics Solutions business unit) by Polytec Netherlands Holding B.V. The decisive factor behind this sale is the company’s rapidly increasing strategic divergence from voestalpine’s core business. The selling process is scheduled for completion by the beginning of November 2014 (‘Closing’).

After enlarging the voestalpine AG Management Board and reducing the average age of its members, the Group is now completing its generational transfer with new first management level appointments to key functions. On October 1, 2014, Franz Michael Androsch (52) succeeds newly appointed Management Board member Peter Schwab as Head of Group’s R&D – Research and development, and Mathias Farthofer (40) takes over in Corporate Development. A new Corporate Procurement Department (Corporate Purchasing) has been created and will be headed by Michael Eyett, previously in charge of Corporate Development. Since April 1, 2014, Christian Kaufmann (40) has been the new head of the Legal Department, M&A and Compliance, with Johann Prammer (51) responsible for Environmental Affairs.

In order to meet the demands of the Group’s consistent internationalization process and rapid growth, voestalpine AG is expanding its Management Board from five to six members as of October 1, 2014. The newest Management Board member will be Peter Schwab, previously Head of Research & Development for the entire Group, who will take over management of the Metal Forming Division. Earlier, this division was headed by Herbert Eibensteiner, who will now take over as Head of the Steel Division. Wolfgang Eder, who has headed this division since 1999 in addition to his role as CEO, will be concentrating on his position as Chairman of the Management Board of voestalpine AG and the continuing internationalization and further strategic development of the Group in its entirety.

The steel-based technology and capital goods Group voestalpine is continuing to expand its international market position in the special steel segment. In September, the voestalpine Special Steel Division is opening a new location in Gebze near Istanbul jointly with a Böhler Uddeholm sales company.

The Management Board of voestalpine AG adopted a resolution today to call the entire issue of Hybrid Bond 2007 (ISIN AT0000A069T7) (issued by voestalpine AG in 2007) in accordance with § 4 (2)(i) of the terms and conditions effective on the first possible call date for this bond, namely 31 October 2014 (redemption date). The initial volume of EUR 1 billion for Hybrid Bond 2007 has been reduced by the exchange of this bond by creditors for a hybrid bond newly issued in 2013 (ISIN AT0000A0ZHF1) and currently stands at EUR 500 million.

This year sees the voestalpine Group securing its third major contract in the pipeline business. Following the first, now completed, contract for the Russian-European pipeline project South Stream, and for Rota 3, a pipeline project in Brazil, voestalpine will deliver 120,000 tons of sour-gas-resistant, high-strength linepipe plates for the second South Stream pipeline by spring 2015. The South Stream contract is not affected by sanctions. Further negotiations are also currently underway concerning extremely challenging pipeline projects.

In April, ground was broken for the voestalpine Group’s direct reduction plant in Corpus Christi, Texas (USA). This was preceded by 15 months of extensive environmental impact assessments, all of which were successfully completed. In the meantime, construction is on schedule. After signing a memorandum of understanding last year with the largest Mexican steel manufacturer, Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA), the Group has now entered into the final supply agreement for 400,000 tons (plus another optional 250,000 tons) of hot briquetted iron (HBI) produced in Texas. Interest on the market in high-quality sponge iron continues to be high: negotiations, some at an advanced stage, are currently underway with a series of prodigious steel manufacturers to purchase voestalpine HBI.

After South Stream (1), the voestalpine Group has secured its second major pipeline contract this year. 120,000 tons of sour-gas-resistant, high-strength linepipe plates will be delivered for the third Petrobras pipeline in the world’s largest oilfield, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by March 2015. This is a further example of voestalpine beating its global competitors in the hard-fought energy sector. Negotiations are also currently underway for extremely challenging pipeline projects in Russia (South Stream Pipeline 2), Mexico, and India.

Today, voestalpine agreed with the industrial group Aalberts Industries N.V., headquartered in Langbroek (NL), that it would sell all of its shares (100%) in the Flamco Holding B.V. and Flamco Stag Behälterbau GmbH, headquartered in Bunschoten (NL). The decisive factor behind the divestment was Flamco’s increasingly strong divergence from core strategic business of the technology and capital goods group voestalpine. The sale is scheduled to be closed by the end of July.

In its meeting today, the Supervisory Board of voestalpine AG has appointed former Head of Group Research, DI Dr. Peter Schwab, to become a member of the Management Board of voestalpine AG, with effect from October 1, 2014. Consequently, from October 2014 the Management Board will consist of six, rather than five members.

The voestalpine Group’s 22nd production site in China will be officially opened today. voestalpine Profilform (China), a subsidiary of the Metal Forming Division, produces and processes high-quality steel pipes and sections for agricultural and construction machinery manufacturers and for international automobile manufacturers and automotive suppliers. The plant, which will create 50 new jobs, represents an investment of EUR 20 million. The voestalpine Group already has 2,200 employees in China and generates revenue of EUR 220 million.

After about a year of preparation, Wolfgang Eder, CEO of voestalpine, broke ground today for the construction of a direct reduction plant in Texas (USA). This EUR 550 million investment is the largest foreign investment in the history of the Austrian Group. The voestalpine Texas LLC plant is being constructed at the La Quinta Trade Gateway Terminal in close proximity to the City of Corpus Christi. Starting in 2016, the plant will produce two million tons of HBI (Hot Briquetted Iron) and DRI (Direct Reduced Iron) annually and will supply Austrian locations, such as Linz and Donawitz, with “sponge iron” as a premium raw material. With the new facility, voestalpine can significantly reduce production costs in Europe. The highly automated plant will create 150 jobs.

The voestalpine Group’s 17th production site in the United States began operation today. voestalpine Automotive Body Parts Inc., a subsidiary of the Metal Forming Division, is manufacturing ultra-high strength body-in-white components for premium car manufacturers in Cartersville/Georgia. This EUR 50 million investment (about USD 70 million) will create 220 jobs. It completes the first phase of the Group’s extensive internationalization program in the automotive sector. Since 2012, voestalpine has invested over EUR 100 million (USD 140 million) in new plants in China, Germany, Romania, South Africa, and the USA. Additional plants and expanded capacity are in the planning stage.

The voestalpine Group assumes that the economic conditions will continue to remain difficult. The leadership position should be safeguarded over the long term, not only in terms of quality and technology but also in terms of results, in order to remain a stable, secure, and reliable employer in the future.

The voestalpine Group is continuing its internationalization strategy and today opens its new Metal Forming Division site in East London, South Africa. The plant for high-quality automotive components is the latest step in the Group's comprehensive globalization strategy in the automotive sector. voestalpine is currently investing significantly more than EUR 100 million in the facilities in South Africa as well as additional plants in China, the USA, Romania, and Germany. The Group has also recently set a record research budget of EUR 140 million in order to further extend its global technological leadership.

voestalpine, the leading international technology and capital goods Group and industry leader in Styria, is acquiring a stake in ACstyria Autocluster, thus clearly signaling that Styria is on an upward trajectory as a prime location for business and industry. Consequently, the voestalpine Group, which operates worldwide, will become a part of the 20-year success story of the premier Austrian auto cluster.

The voestalpine Group is continuing to push forward with its internationalization strategy by acquiring the Indian company Maruti Weld Pvt. Ltd., which is headquartered in New Delhi. The company, which specializes in manufacturing welding electrodes, currently has 180 employees; in 2012, it generated an annual revenue of EUR 6.7 million. For voestalpine, this acquisition represents yet another expansion of its product portfolio in the welding technology segment.