AHMSA declares bankruptcy; negotiates with 7 investors

Mexico City. Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA), a steel company owned by Alonso Ancira Elizondo until a few years ago, will be declared bankrupt, the company announced.

The firm located in Monclova, Coahuila, explained in a statement that when the last extension of the conciliation stage of its bankruptcy proceedings concludes on August 4, it will enter the bankruptcy phase, a declaration that will be issued by the head of the second district court, Ruth Haggi Huerta.

The steel company, which was one of the largest in the country and represented 17,000 direct jobs, indicated that in this new stage, the Federal Institute of Bankruptcy Specialists (Ifecom) will appoint a trustee who will assume control.

The firm noted that the current administration of AHMSA, advised by the financial firm Rothschild & Co and under the supervision of the conciliator Víctor Manuel Aguilera, seeks to attract both national and foreign investors to capitalize the company, in order to resume operations as soon as possible in Monclova.

Discussions are ongoing with seven potential investors and steel companies, two of which have already conducted due diligence visits and more are anticipated in the coming weeks to assess the status of the assets and determine the viability of the operation.said.

The steel company needs around 900 million dollars, of which at least 650 million must be used to pay its debts to the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), workers (whose salaries were stopped for at least a year and seven months) and creditors, while the rest would be used to restart its operations.

He said that if an agreement is reached in the coming months, it would open up the possibility of reactivating the company and preserving the source of employment.

It is estimated that more than 50 percent of the population of Monclova, as well as nearby areas such as Nava and Hercules in Coahuila, La Perla in Chihuahua and Cerro de Mercado in Durango, depend on this company.

AHMSA recognizes and appreciates the support and patience of its former workers, laborers and employees and reaffirms its commitment to all interested parties to carry out this process in a transparent manner and in strict compliance with the corresponding legal regulations.the company concluded.

The path of crisis

The steel company’s financial problems have worsened with the commitment to pay 216 million dollars to Pemex to conclude the criminal action against Ancira Elizondo.

The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) accused the businessman of the crime of operations with illicit proceeds, by illegally obtaining funds with the sale in 2013 of Agronitrogenados to Pemex and also because he gave a bribe of 3 million 500 thousand dollars to Emilio Lozoya Austin, then director of the oil company, in order to complete the negotiation.

AHMSA sold Agronitrogenados to Pemex for 275 million dollars, of which 264 million corresponded to assets and 11 million to capital. For that operation, former official Emilio Lozoya and Alonso Ancira face judicial charges for corruption and damage to the Mexican State.

Ancira Elizondo was arrested in Spain in 2019 and imprisoned. He was extradited to Mexico as part of the criminal proceedings. The former businessman was later released, through a reparation agreement in which he agreed to make three payments totaling $216 million, which he has not paid in full.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador proposed on several occasions to rescue the steel company by restructuring the debt, but the condition was to have Ancira Alonso out. Although the businessman left AHMSA, the objective of the current federal administration was not achieved, after arguing that it found a lot of corruption.

On June 26, the Federal Labor Court for Collective Affairs, based in Mexico City, notified AHMSA and the National Union of Miners of the outbreak of a strike at the Hercules Unit of its subsidiary Minera del Norte (Minosa), due to alleged violations of the collective bargaining agreement, but the firm asked to declare it non-existent, since operations have been halted for more than a year and that subsidiary was declared bankrupt on May 6.