The Stel Salaried
Pensioners Organization wishes to thank The Hamilton Spectator for permission
to post the following article by Reporter Tara Perkins published in the March
1, 2005 edition
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Mar. 1, 2005. 12:27 AM |
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Stelco deal expected this week |
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By Tara Perkins |
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Stelco's board is meeting today to consider bids to buy or refinance the company, with a decision widely expected this week. Bidders are anxious to move the process along. One of the bidders has said its offer will expire if a decision is not reached today, said Stelco spokesperson Helen Reeves. A source said the bid by Sherritt International in partnership with the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan expires tonight if it has not been accepted, but that deadline could be changed. Reeves said Stelco will take any deadlines into consideration during today's deliberations, but the company does not know whether it will select a winning bid today. Stelco's board is back to seven members. On Friday, the judge overseeing Stelco's bankruptcy protection told Stelco to remove two shareholder representatives who had been given seats on the board the previous week. In addition to Sherritt's bid, the board is considering bids from Russian steelmaker Severstal and a consortium led by TD Securities. All three offers are trying to top a $900-million proposal from Deutsche Bank, which Stelco accepted as a floor bid. Besides those four proposals for Stelco's core Nanticoke and Hamilton operations, the steelmaker has received numerous bids for its subsidiaries. Last night, Stelco officials met with representatives from the United Steelworkers to gauge their thoughts on the probability of being able to work with each of the bidders, Reeves said. Stelco's court process calls for the union to give the steelmaker its opinion as to how likely it is that a "satisfactory" collective agreement could be worked out with each bidder. That input is "intended to support a successful process by providing information concerning the likelihood of success for each of the bidders prior to the selection of a prevailing offer..." court documents say. Five Steelworker presidents -- from Lake Erie, AltaSteel, Stelwire, Stelfil and Norambar -- have already thrown their support behind the Severstal offer, which is the only steel company bidding for Stelco. AltaSteel and Lake Erie are both operating without a contract, and could be in a strike position after Stelco emerges from bankruptcy protection. Rolf Gerstenberger, president of Hamilton Local 1005, has said he will not participate in Stelco's restructuring process or the choice of a bidder. Gerstenberger said the contract covering his current workers must remain in place no matter which bid prevails. tperkins@thespec.com 905-526-4620 |