Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest, one of the largest companies in Ukraine, will open a sales office in Romania, Metinvest Carpathia, aiming to consolidate its presence on the Romanian market, the company has announced.

Metinvest is a subsidiary of SCM Holdings, which is controlled by Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, who is also owner of the Shakhtar Donetsk football club.

The group aims to increase its presence in Europe, which generates almost a quarter of the group’s laminated steel sales. Romania is the largest market in South-Eastern Europe with an annual consumption of some 2.5 million tons of steel.

Metinvest is an international vertically integrated steel and mining company based in Donetsk, in Eastern Ukraine. The company controls half of the Ukrainian iron ore market, 46 percent of the country’s coal market and some 40 percent of the metal products market. The company also owns assets in Europe and in the United States.

In 2013, Metinvest had revenues of USD 12.8 billion and a net profit of USD 392 million.

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com