Swiss Steel Group recently announced plans to voluntarily delist from the local stock exchange. The sustainable steel industry leader partly cited restructuring and reorganization changes as reasons for the move, stating that both had resulted in large and long-term investors becoming its principal shareholders.
According to January 24 statement, the resulting low float of its shares, combined with the low share price, prompted the Lucerne-headquartered company to seek removal from the SIX Swiss Exchange. “The board of directors has determined that the benefits of maintaining a listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange are outweighed by the comparatively high costs and administrative efforts required to sustain it,” the company noted.
The company added that “the voluntary delisting will allow Swiss Steel Holding AG to allocate resources more effectively toward restructuring and operational improvements, aligning with the objectives of the SSG 2025 strategy.”
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Diverse Steel Industry Ownership to Meet on Plans
Information on the group’s website indicates that about 11.3% of Swiss Steel’s shares are free float, while compatriot company GravelPoint Holding holds 65.75%. Meanwhile, PCS Holding AG/ Peter Spuhler, another Swiss company, hold 10.11%. Zürich Liwet Holding and CH ComplexProm Joint Stock Company, respectively based in Zürich and Moscow, hold the remaining 12.85%.
The latter company is associated with Russian-Cypriot Oligarch Viktor Vekselber’s Renova group, which also has a stake in aluminum producer Rusal.
In its announcement, Swiss Steel stated that an extraordinary general shareholders meeting is now due to take place on February 17, adding, “If the delisting is approved at the EGM, the Board of Directors will oversee its implementation in compliance with Swiss law and established practice.”
“This includes submitting a delisting application to the SIX Regulatory Board, which will determine the last trading date on the Swiss stock exchange,” the group added. The firm also took care to note that neither short-term external factors nor the current economic situation had influenced the decision to delist.
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Swiss Steel’s Lackluster Start to 2025
Data from the Swiss SIX exchange showed that Swiss Steel’s steel industry share price reached a high of Fr1.84 ($2.01) on February 7, against Fr17.54 ($19.24 ) on the same date in 2023. This reflects an 89% decrease year on year.
Back in January, the company announced workforce reduction plans at its Emmenbrücke works in Lucerne Canton by Q2. That site has one electric arc furnace with an annual crude steel capacity of 500,000 metric tonnes per year, which it casts into billet for rolling into bar and wire. Those reductions are part of a planned downsizing of 800 full-time positions at the Swiss Steel’s European sites, which the group announced in November.
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