ThyssenKrupp To Sell U.S. Plant To ArcelorMittal, Nippon Steel For $1.55 Bln.

(RTTNews) - German steel giant ThyssenKrupp AG (TYEKF.PK) Friday announced the sale of its rolling and coating plant in Calvert, Alabama to a consortium of ArcelorMittal SA (MT) and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. for $1.55 billion, putting a restraint on its loss-making Steel Americas operations.

Also, ThyssenKrupp said its net loss for fiscal 2013 narrowed, with positive operating performance somewhat weighed down by the problems in the Steel Americas business and resultant impairment charges, the provisions for violations in the rail cartel case, and restructuring costs.

The deal with ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel ends a protracted sale process that spanned 18 months. But the sale price is much lower than the $5 billion ThyssenKrupp expended to build the mill in Calvert, Alabama. The mill imports raw steel from Brazil and then sells the finished product to auto makers. But ThyssenKrupp's Brazilian costs soared and steel demand was lackluster. The mill rolls out 5.3 million tons of steel.

The transaction includes a six-year agreement to purchase two million tons of slab annually from ThyssenKrupp's integrated steel mill complex located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Brazil plant is also on the block, with ThyssenKrupp turning down offers from a pair of South American competitors earlier in the year.

With the sale of the Alabama mill, ThyssenKrupp plans to increase its capital by up to 10 percent.

ThyssenKrupp has recently redrawn plans for its unprofitable American steel operations, and it is considering remaining and expanding in Brazil and exiting the U.S entirely.

Meanwhile, ArcelorMittal said the acquisition of the Alabama mill will help to supply customers in the U.S. auto industry's southern production facilities.

ThyssenKrupp also said its net loss for fiscal 2013 narrowed to 1.5 billion euros from 5 billion euros a year ago. Its adjusted earnings before interest and tax, or EBIT, jumped to about 1 billion euros in 2013 from 599 million euros a year ago.

ThyssenKrupp had postponed the release of its financial results, pending today's deal with ArcelorMittal and Nippon.

The company said its order intake from continuing operations (including Steel Americas) was lower by 12 percent at 38.6 billion euros, compared with a year ago.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2014, ThyssenKrupp expects strong improvement in adjusted EBIT to 1 billion euros, with the outlook including Steel Americas and excluding VDM and AST.

"Even though the economic outlook remains subdued from today's perspective, ThyssenKrupp expects the Group's sales to grow year-on-year by a mid single-digit percentage rate," the company said.

ThyssenKrupp also expects a significant improvement towards break-even earnings for 2014.

ThyseenKrupp said its Executive Board and Supervisory Board will again propose to the Annual General Meeting this year that no dividend be paid.

Earlier this month, ArcelorMittal reported a narrower loss for the third quarter, despite a decline in sales. While the company backed its annual forecast for EBITDA and said the cycle has bottomed out, it nonetheless expressed caution for 2014.

In Germany, the stock closed Friday at 19.26 euros, down 0.15 euros or 0.75%, on a volume of 3.4 million shares.