Local media reported that while the liquidation managers remain silent, a source close to Miskolc based bankrupt steel industry company DAM 2004 has divulged information on one of the two bidders interested in an acquisition.

According to wire service MTI, this prospective investor is none other than Max Aicher GmbH, a German strategic investor which operates another steel plant in nearby Ozd.

Two potential investors have submitted bids for bankrupt steel company DAM 2004, a bankruptcy management firm Ratis told wire service MTI. The company now employs less than 1,000 staff at the Diosgyor Steel Works in Miskolc, once the flagship of the heavy industry in Hungary.

Sources speaking on condition of anonymity told wire service MTI that one of the bids was submitted by Max Aicher GmbH, a German company which has been successfully operating Ózd Steel Works Kft for 12 years near Miskolc.

The liquidation process began after a county court ruling on June 24th 2009. Production at DAM ceased in December 2008, since then the company has been laying off staff on a mass scale.

With a history going back over 200 years, the Diosgyor Steel Works has been in and out of bankruptcy since the end of the Communist era. As a result of several liquidations, the company has changed hands many times and has had Slovakian, Italian and Ukrainian owners in recent years. Once a major employer in Miskolc with almost 18,000 staff, the plant now employs less than 1,000 with layoffs still going on.

(Sourced from www.portfolio.hu)