Liberty Galați puts assets worth 690 million euros up for sale. International auction in March

The restructuring plan was approved by the interministerial committee, and Liberty Galați’s assets will be put up for sale for 690 million euros, in an international auction scheduled for March. The transaction is one of the largest possible sales of industrial assets in recent years, with direct implications for the construction industry and public finances.

„We will organize the international auction on March 12. The sales regulations and specifications will be finalized by Monday. The participation guarantee will be 7%,” said Remus Borza, president of Euro Insol, the company’s bankruptcy administrator, quoted by Ziarul Financiar. The asset valuation was carried out by the Romanian company Darian, which specializes in industrial and real estate asset valuations. As part of the sale procedure, 13 investors have expressed interest in taking over the plant so far.

Among those interested are industrial groups from India, China, Turkey, Ukraine and Iraq, as well as a Romanian company. This is UMB Grup, owned by Dorinel Umbrărescu.

Also on the list of potential buyers are JSW Steel and Jindal Group from India, DeLong Steel from China, KMC Steel from Turkey, Galiawa Group from Iraq and Metinvest from Ukraine, controlled by billionaire Rinat Akhmetov. The Ukrainian group is already present in Romania, after taking over the ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Iași factory, an acquisition completed in December 2025.

The interest of large industrial groups shows that Liberty Galați’s assets remain attractive, despite the losses and financial blockages in recent years.

Liberty Galați is controlled by the Liberty Group of Indian-British investor Sanjeev Gupta and entered into a preventive arrangement in March 2024, in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy. Since then, the plant’s activity has been severely affected. Approximately 3,300 employees have been made unemployed, and currently less than 200 employees are still working. Salaries have not been paid for over two and a half months, a situation that has generated social tensions among employees.

According to data from the Ministry of Finance, the plant’s financial situation has deteriorated sharply in recent years. After a peak in 2021, when Liberty Galați reported a turnover of over 9.3 billion lei and a profit of approximately 1.36 billion lei, the company has been losing money. In 2023, losses exceeded 2.2 billion lei, and turnover fell to 3.65 billion lei. In 2024, turnover fell to around 2.1 billion lei, and losses remained at over 1.6 billion lei.

The state is among the company’s main creditors. ANAF has to recover around 150 million euros, and EximBank 300 million euros. The recovery of these amounts depends largely on the success of the sale procedure, with the state exposed both as a creditor and as an actor involved in the restructuring of the plant.

Since September 2024, the government has set up an inter-ministerial committee to manage the situation of the plant, considered strategic for the construction industry, the naval sector and major infrastructure projects.