Thyssenkrupp has completed the sale of the Acciai Speciali Terni (AST) stainless steel mill to Italian steelmaker Arvedi.

During a signing ceremony earlier this week in Essen, the two firms agreed that Thyssenkrupp will retain a 15% stake in AST to strengthen the already existing cooperation between the companies. The sale of AST will improve thyssenkrupp’s net financial position by more than €600 million ($675m), the German firm tells Kallanish.

“Arvedi has shown a clear growth perspective for AST in the talks,” says thyssenkrupp chief executive Martina Merz. “This is a strong signal for AST's employees in the new ownership structure … We are continuing to drive forward the focusing of our portfolio. Four transactions in the past six months, including AST, one of the largest units in [thyssenkrupp’s] Multi Tracks segment, speak for themselves. But it is also clear that portfolio management is a permanent task in a high-performance group of companies."

The sale of AST to Arvedi includes thyssenkrupp’s sales subsidiaries in Germany, Italy and Turkey.

AST employs around 2,700 people and generated sales of around €2 billion in the 2020-2021 fiscal year. AST combined with Arvedi will become a large stainless and carbon steelmaking processing business with 6,200 employees. Giovanni Arvedi and Mario Caldonazzo are now respectively president and ceo of Acciai Speciali Terni.

This sale represents the fourth company thyssenkrupp has divested from its Multi Tracks segment. AST’s disposal adds to the closure of the heavy plate mill in Duisburg and the divestment of the Infrastructure business and Carbon Components. Last year the steelmaker also announced the sale of its mining business.