Swiss Steel Holding successfully completes contested CHF 247m capital increase

Following the successful completion of the CHF 247 million capital increase of Swiss Steel Holding AG the newly issued shares started trading on SIX Swiss Exchange today. This completes a contested and publicised process in which Swiss Steel Holding’s second largest shareholder Liwet Holding AG had initiated court proceedings and filed an application seeking to block the capital increase. By decision of 29 January 2021, the district court of Lucerne rejected Liwet Holding AG’s respective request. Liwet Holding AG also filed applications with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA and the Swiss Takeover Board, which were rejected by FINMA and the Swiss Takeover Board on 27 January 2021 and 5 March 2021, respectively. An appeal by Liwet Holding AG to FINMA against the Swiss Takeover Board’s decision of 5 March 2021 remains pending.

The Swiss Steel Group is currently one of the world’s leading providers of customised solutions in the field of special long steel products. It is also one of the leading manufacturers in the global market for both tool steel and stainless long steel and is one of the two largest companies in Europe for alloyed and high-alloy engineering steel. With nearly 10,000 employees at its own production and distribution companies in over 30 countries across five continents, the Swiss Steel Group supports and supplies its customers around the globe and offers them a full worldwide portfolio from Production and Sales & Services.

NKF acted as legal counsel to Swiss Steel Holding AG in the capital increase and all related proceedings before the courts, FINMA and the Swiss Takeover Board. The NKF team was led by Corporate and Capital Markets partner Philippe Weber and further comprised partner Thomas Brönnimann, counsel Christina Del Vecchio, senior associates Andrea Rüttimann and Roman Sturzenegger, associate Samuel Hochstrasser, junior associates Dominique Sunitsch and Dominik Penkov (all Corporate/Capital Markets), partner Lukas Beeler, senior associate Anja Vogt and junior associate Alexis Brunner (Dispute Resolution), partner Markus Kronauer (Tax) and partner Valerie Meyer Bahar (Labour Law).