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LIBERTY Steel Group (鈥淟IBERTY鈥�) has appointed international sustainability leader Thomas Gangl as the Chief Executive Officer of its European business, and confirms Vienna as the location for its European headquarters.

Thomas will start at LIBERTY on 1 July 2024 and will be responsible for all of LIBERTY鈥檚 European plants including its major operations at Galati in Romania, Ostrava in the Czech Republic, Duna煤jv谩ros in Hungary, Cz臋stochowa in Poland, and downstream operations in Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and North Macedonia. Together LIBERTY鈥檚 European businesses employ 17,000 people. Thomas will be focussed on stabilising the businesses, optimising production and delivering green steel transformation by 2030.

天博体育官方网站 appointment of Thomas Gangl follows progress with LIBERTY鈥檚 European debt restructuring and is part of a broader plan to establish a new European holding company registered in Vienna, which will also become LIBERTY鈥檚 European headquarters. Vienna offers a central European location close to LIBERTY鈥檚 major plants with excellent financial and professional service industries.

天博体育官方网站uns Victor, interim CEO for European Upstream, continues to play an important role in stabilising the European businesses and will manage a handover to Thomas from July.聽 天博体育官方网站uns will then return to his position leading Industrial Projects & Development to deliver the group鈥檚 carbon neutral ambitions.

Toker Ozcan, the current CEO of Green Steel EMEA, will now focus on leading Liberty鈥檚 UK operations following the recent agreement with Greensill creditors. Toker has adeptly steered our downstream businesses through a challenging period, and following the handover, he will concentrate on executing the UK strategy.

Thomas Gangl

Thomas (52) is currently CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Borealis, one of the world鈥檚 leading providers of advanced and sustainable polyolefin solutions. At Borealis Thomas was instrumental in refining its Strategy 2030 with sustainability at its core and accelerating the company鈥檚 progress towards a circular economy.

Prior to joining Borealis, Thomas had served for most of his career with OMV, the Austrian integrated oil and gas company which operates across Europe, holding various management positions in OMV’s refining business. During his tenure, investment decisions were taken for the electrolysis of green hydrogen and the development of a plant for the production of green biofuels at OMV鈥檚 Schwechat refinery. From 2019, he was a member of the OMV Executive Board as Chief Downstream Operations Officer and oversaw the increase of OMV’s shareholding in Borealis to 75% before taking over as its CEO in 2021.

Sanjeev Gupta, Executive Chairman, LIBERTY Steel Group said:

鈥淭homas鈥檚 appointment continues our trend of attracting top class leadership talent to support the transformation of our group in its pursuit of green steel and carbon neutrality by 2030. 聽Thomas鈥檚 experience in managing complex business environments and major capital projects will be vital as we stabilise our businesses in Europe, seek to attract fresh capital and transition away from coal-based steel production. 聽天博体育官方网站 establishment of a new European group headquartered in Vienna will mark a new chapter for our businesses with its core focus on leading the development of green steel in our neighbouring Central and Eastern European locations.鈥�

Commenting on his appointment Thomas Gangl said:

鈥淟IBERTY has built up an impressive set of assets across Europe with huge potential for sustainable developments and green steel transformation.聽 Like all steel companies across Europe there are major challenges in managing market conditions and delivering the decarbonised future we all want as soon as possible. 聽My priorities will be to complete the restructuring work the team has started, boost productive utilisation of our steel mills and deliver our electric arc furnance investments so we remain on track to deliver green steel and carbon neutral production by 2030.聽 聽I look forward to working with LIBERTY鈥檚 committed workforce and stakeholders to deliver our mutual goal of a sustainable and thriving steel sector in Europe.鈥�