Alexander Katunin, the owner of Swiss metal trader Carbofer Group and the former co-owner of Russia's Evraz Group, together with a group of financial investors and with the participation of Russia's Vnesheconombank (VEB), has purchased a controlling interest in Donetsk-based Industrial Union of Donbas (IUD) Corporation. The new partners have helped the company to strengthen its position on the global market, the IUD said in a press release.
"The IUD and a group of financial investors and investors from the mining and metal industry state that they have reached an agreement to combine efforts to develop the competitiveness of the metallurgical assets of the Ukrainian corporation on the global market. According to their agreements, the new partners led by Alexander Katunin (who was a co-founder and a shareholder of Evraz Group until 2004), an owner of the international steel and iron products trader Carbofer Group S.A. as well as logistic and production companies, have bought a 50% plus two stocks package in the IUD. A 49.99% share still belongs to Serhiy Taruta and Oleh Mkrtchan," the press release reads.
The IUD, founded in 1995, is an integrated holding company that owns or manages stakes in mining and metals enterprises. The group’s core assets are the Alchevsk Iron & Steel Works (AMK), Alchevsk Coke-Chemical Plant and Dzerzhynsk Iron & Steel Works (DMK) in Ukraine, as well as Dunaferr in Hungary, and ISD-Huta Czestochowa in Poland.
Carbofer General Trading SA is a private company established in Luxembourg in 2004. The company trades steel, coal, pig iron, iron ore and scrap. In 2007, Carbofer General Trading purchased Evraz Metall. The company’s sales volumes amounted to 9.7 million tonnes, bringing the company $3 million of revenues in 2008.
