Altos Hornos de México
Encyclopedia
Altos Hornos de México is the largest steel mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 corporation in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 with installed capacity of 4.2 million metric tons of liquid steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

.

History

AHMSA was founded in Mexico by American Harold R. Pape in 1942. In the late 1970s, it was nationalized by the federal government.

In 1991, it was reprivatized when AHMSA was purchased by Grupo Acerero del Norte (“GAN”), led by current Chairman Alonso Ancira
Alonso Ancira
Alonso Ancira is a Mexican businessman who is the controlling shareholder and Chairman of the Board of Altos Hornos de Mexico , Mexico's largest steel producer....

.

In 1997, AHMSA announced announced that it began operation of Blast Furnace No. 2 as part of the Company's scheduled operational programs.

Mr. Ancira left the country in 1999.

In February 2000, AHMSA announced that it has reached an agreement with the debt holders of Altos Hornos de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (AHMSA) to restructure AHMSA's debt.

In October 2002, Representatives of the banks, led by Bank of America, Banamex and Bancomer, confirmed that they wished to remove Alonso Ancira from the administration of the company.

In the early 2000s, AHMSA filed for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 amid declining steel prices. In September 2004, AHMSA announced a strategic alliance with Russian Investors. In recent years, as the price of steel recovered, AHMSA has returned to profitability and plans to exit bankruptcy sometime in 2011.

Business

AHMSA mines its own iron ore and coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 to produce steel, and it also produces steam coal. Ahmsa's main product focus is flat steel products such as hot and cold-rolled coil used for machinery parts, railroad tanks and bridge constructions, and structural shapes, used in the manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...

 industry.

Ahmsa’s main steelmaking facilities and corporate offices are located in Monclova
Monclova
On the other hand, temperatures during late spring and summer can have bouts of extreme heat, with evenings above 40°C for many consecutive days. In recent decades the hottest records have climbed as high as 43°C on July 13, 2005 and 45°C on May 4, 1984. However nighttime low temperatures are...

, Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...

, close to transportation lines, raw materials supplies, principal points of export, and the company’s major domestic markets.

NAICs Codes

  • 212111 Bituminous Coal and Lignite Surface Mining
  • 212112 Bituminous Coal Underground Mining
  • 21221 Iron Ore Mining
  • 331111 Iron & Steel Mills
  • 331221 Cold-Rolled Steel Shape Manufacturing
  • 331222 Steel Wire Drawing.


External links

NY Times Article Internet Securities Creditors want Alonso Ancira out of AHMSA.
  • Profile on Yahoo! Finance
    Yahoo! Finance
    Yahoo! Finance is a service from Yahoo! that provides financial information. It is the top financial news and research website in the United States, with more than 23 million visitors in February 2010, according to comScore....

  • Profile at Google Finance
    Google Finance
    Google Finance is a website launched on March 21, 2006 by Google. The service features business and enterprise headlines for many corporations including their financial decisions and major news events. Stock information is available, as are Adobe Flash-based stock price charts which contain marks...

    Altos Hornos de Mexico Corporate Website
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK