AHMSA notifies of possible Chapter 11 filing

Mexico-based steel producer Altos Hornos de México S.A.B. de C.V. (AHMSA) has filed a notice with the BMV stock exchange in Mexico indicating it is “effectively explor[ing] the possibility of [assigning] its subsidiary Minera del North S.A. de C.V. to Chapter 11 under United States law.”

The company is facing unique legal challenges in Mexico stemming from a charge of corruption levied against prior top officers. 

Thus, even in the face of one of the most profitable steel markets in decades, AHMSA is instead fighting to keep its operations running.

In the brief notice filed Oct. 21 with the BMV exchange, AHMSA says the filing may be necessary and can take place in the U.S. “given that one-third of [AHMSA’s] mining operations for the production of 6.6 million tons per year of thermal coal were developed in the United States and were paralyzed from the cancellation by the [Mexican] Federal Electricity Commission of orders and contracts for supply for its plants, which led to the loss of 4,000 direct jobs.”