Potential Dunaferr buyers must submit interest by 4 May

Potential buyers of Hungarian steelmaker Dunaferr have until 4 May to submit their interest, and must pay a non-refundable deposit of around €4mn to be considered.

They will be able to bid in June, and must pay a percentage of their bid price as a refundable deposit.

The Hungarian government and the plant's liquidator want a swift sale of the loss-making asset. Liberty has a tolling contract to operate the mill until the end of June, with the government paying wages. It was guaranteeing energy supply until March, but this is now market-based.Energy assets associated with the mill will not be included in the sale.

Whoever acquires the mill will have to take on decarbonisation costs. Environmental licences will be included in the sale, but these expire in 2027 and will not be extended for the current blast furnace-based technology.

There is uncertainty over the site's carbon quotas — Dunaferr was removed from the EU emissions trading system in 2021 for non-compliance. The government is in talks with the European Commission over the issue, according to industry sources.

Before Liberty won its temporary contract, European and Turkish companies had expressed interest. The chief executive of Ukraine's Metinvest, Yuriy Ryzhenkov, wrote to Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban last year expressing interest in acquiring the facility.

But government sources criticised Metinvest for the nature of its approach, after the letter was leaked.

By Colin Richardson