Estel

Estel (also styled as ESTEL)[1] was a steel company formed by the merging of Koninklijke Hoogovens IJmuiden steel plant and Hoesch's main steel plant in Dortmund. The company existed from 1972 to 1982 until de-merged.

For other uses, see Estel (disambiguation).
Estel
IndustrySteel
PredecessorIJmuiden steelworks, Hoesch Dortmund steelworks
Founded1972
Defunct1982
SuccessorIJmuiden steelworks, Hoesch Dortmund steelworks
Headquarters
Nijmegen
,
Netherlands
Number of locations
IJmuiden, Dortmund
ProductsIron, Raw steel, finished steel, manufactured steel

History

In 1966 the board of Koninklijke Hoogovens voted in favour of merging their IJmuiden steelworks with the Dortmund plant of German steelmaker Hoesch; Hoesch would benefit from the IJmuiden steelwork's port, and Koninklijke Hoogovens' 43% shareholding in the Dortmund-Hörder Hüttenunion (DHHU) was converted into a 15% shareholding in Hoesch with Hoesch acquiring DHUU.[note 1] The two firms made agreements on division of work between the plants – IJmuiden was to concentrate on pig iron, crude steel, and semi-manufactured products, whilst Hoesch's Dortmund plant was to produce finished steels and manufactured products. The two entities were merged in 1972, forming Estel NV, headquarter in Nijmegen.[3][4][5]

In the mid 1970s the Steel crisis caused overcapacity in steel production throughout Europe; Estel needed to invest to improve production quality and efficiency to compensate for loss of production volume, and to cut production costs; additionally Hoesch's branch of Estel was making losses, and required support; as such it sought investment from both the German and Netherlands government; however the Dutch government was only willing to invest if the German state also supported the venture, whilst the German state wished any restructuring and investment to be done in collaboration with Krupp (also loss making) which was not acceptable to Dutch banks.[3][6] As a result, in 1982 the 50:50 partnership of Estel was dissolved, with Hoesch taking 61% of its liabilities.[7][8]

Notes
  1. Koninkijke Hoogoven had a share in Phoenix AG für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb of Dortmund which had been merged into Vereinigte Stahlwerke; following the breakup of that concern in 1953 Hoogoven's share was converted into a holding of the Dortmund based Dortmund-Hörder Hüttenunion.[2]

References
  1. Staff (31 Jan 1975). "Envirotech, Dutch Firm Sign Pact". The Times (San Mateo, California). p. 41 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Hans Schenk (2001), "6. A 'Dutch Miracle' in steel policy? Laissez-faire intervention, wage restraint and the evolution of Hoogovens", in B. Guy Peters; Mark Bovens; Paul 't Hart (eds.), Success and failure in public governance: a comparative analysis, New Horizons in Public Policy, series editor Wayne Parsons, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 84–104 [94], ISBN 9781843762171
  3. Jay P. Pederson, ed. (2008), "Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken NV", International Directory of Company Histories, Gale, 91, via www.encyclopedia.com
  4. Karl Eckart (2003), "2.4.2 The companies of iron and steel industry: Estel-Hoesch, Thyssen, Klöckner", Social, economic and cultural aspects in the dynamic changing process of old industrial regions: Ruhr District (Germany), Upper Silesia (Poland), Ostrava Region (Czech Republic), LIT Verlag Münster, pp. 51–52, ISBN 9783825867843
  5. Günter K. Stahl; Mark E. Mendenhall (2005), Mergers and acquisitions: managing culture and human resources, Stanford University Press, pp. 326–331, 335–336, ISBN 9780804746618
  6. Hans Schenk (May 2000), "IS POLDER-TYPE GOVERNANCE GOOD FOR YOU? Laissez-Faire Intervention, Wage Restraint, And Dutch Steel" (PDF), repub.eur.nl, pp. 11–13
  7. "History of Koninklijke Hoogovens" (PDF), www.tatasteeleurope.com, Corus
  8. "Hoesch Partnership", The New York Times, 17 November 1982
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