The HBIS GROUP Serbia Iron & Steel, commonly known as the Hesteel Serbia (

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

: Хестил Србија / Hestil Srbija) or Železara Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Железара Смедерево), is a Serbian

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

manufacturing conglomerate with the headquarters in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

. It operates with facilities in

Radinac Radinac ( sr-cyr, Радинац) is a village in the municipality of Smederevo, Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the village has a population of 5,428 people. It is home to Serbia's only operating steel mill - Železara Smederevo, previously ...

(

steel plant A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finished ...

, hot and cold rolling mill),

Smederevo Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. According to ...

( harbor),

Šabac Šabac (Serbian Cyrillic: Шабац, ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Mačva District in western Serbia. The traditional centre of the fertile Mačva region, Šabac is located on the right banks of the river Sava. , the city p ...

( tinplate) and Kučevo (

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

History

1913–2003: SARTID

On 20 February 1913, the

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

was founded under the name ''SARTID''

a.d. The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...

(''Srpsko akcionarsko rudarsko topioničarsko industrijsko društvo'' a.d.). In the beginning, mainly foreign investors were shareholders of the company. During the period from 1945 to 1992, the Government of

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

operated the steel plant. Many new factories were opened in that period, while Železara Smederevo was seen as a pillar of the Yugoslav metallurgy. During the 1990s, the company's value declined significantly, mainly due to the sanctions which were put in effect during

Yugoslav War The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

. The loss of market and suppliers caused the later bankruptcy of the company.

2003–2012: U.S. Steel

In April 2003, two weeks after the

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

of the Prime Minister of Serbia

Zoran Đinđić Zoran Đinđić ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран Ђинђић, ; 1 August 1952 – 12 March 2003) was a Serbian politician who served as the prime minister of Serbia from 2001 until his assassination in 2003. He was the mayor of Belgrade in 1997. Đinđić ...

, the bankrupted company was sold to American steel company

U.S. Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...

(USS) for $23 million. U.S. Steel also pledged to invest $150 million in plant modernization. Following the company's acquisition, the owners changed its name from ''SARTID'' a.d. to ''U.S. Steel Serbia''

d.o.o. A private limited company is any type of business entity in "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Examples include the '' LLC'' in the United Sta ...

(''USS Serbia'' d.o.o.). Over the years, while being owned by U.S. Steel Corporation, the company formed an important part of the Serbian GDP, and also was the biggest Serbian exporter during the period from 2003 to 2012. On 31 January 2012, U.S. Steel sold the company to the

Government of Serbia The Government of Serbia ( sr, Влада Србије, Vlada Srbije), formally the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr, Влада Републике Србије, Vlada Republike Srbije), commonly abbreviated to Serbian Government ( sr, � ...

for $1, leaving it with 5,400 employees and amounted liabilities due to dropped global steel prices.

2012–2016: Privatization process

With the departure of U.S. Steel, the company plunged into even greater problems. By the end of June 2012, it shut down both of its two large furnaces, while the remaining 5,000 workers were sent on paid leave. Since 22 April 2013, it started operating again with reduced operation. Since then, the Government of Serbia was looking for the strategic partner. However, several

public tenders Government procurement or public procurement is the procurement of Good (economics and accounting), goods, Service (economics), services and works on behalf of a public authority, such as a government agency. Amounting to 12 percent of global GD ...

were canceled due to lack of valid bids. On 5 December 2014, a Serbian Privatization Agency issued a public tender for the purchase of 80.01 percent of the company. On 12 January 2015, an American company Esmark Steel Group was confirmed by the Government of Serbia as a sole valid bidder, and thus began negotiations on takeover of the company. On 17 February 2015, after month of negotiations, a Serbian PM Aleksandar Vučić announced that the

has decided to reject Esmark's offer for the purchase of the company. The decision was made mostly because the Government hasn't received assurances from Esmark that the factory won't be shut down after few years of service. On 21 March 2015, a Management Service contract was signed between Železara Smederevo and the Dutch company HPK Engineering. Signing this contract,

elected HPK Engineering as a company to manage Smederevo steel plant for the next three years. It was stated that HPK Engineering will be responsible for creating the conditions for Železara Smederevo becoming profitable within the next 6 months while maintaining the current size of the labor force.

2016–present: Hesteel

In April 2016 Hesteel Group acquired the business, bidding €46 million. Initially stated plans were to invest $300 million over 2 years into the plant including installation of galvanisation equipment, and raise production to 2.2 million tons from 0.875 million. Also, the headquarters of the company has been moved from Smederevo to the capital of Belgrade. Hesteel Serbia finished the 2018 calendar year as the biggest Serbian gross exporter with 749.5 million euros worth of exports. It has produced around 2 million tonnes of steel products for 2018 calendar year.

Names

This is a list of names of the company throughout the history: * Srpsko akcionarsko rudarsko topioničarsko industrijsko društvo

(SARTID a.d. Smederevo) (1913–2003) * U.S. Steel Serbia

Smederevo (USS Serbia d.o.o. Smederevo) (2003–2012) * Privredno društvo za proizvodnju i preradu čelika Železara Smederevo d.o.o. Smederevo (Železara Smederevo d.o.o. Smederevo) (2012–2016) * Hesteel Serbia Iron & Steel d.o.o. Beograd (Hesteel Serbia d.o.o. Beograd) (2016–)

References

External links

* {{Šabac Municipality 1913 establishments in Serbia 2003 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions Conglomerate companies established in 1913 D.o.o. companies in Serbia Electric power companies of Serbia Manufacturing companies based in Belgrade Manufacturing companies established in 1913 Serbian brands Steel companies of Serbia U.S. Steel