Halyvourgiki, Greece’s largest steel manufacturer, shut down on Monday when the electricity supply to the company was switched off for nonpayment. The steel giant has been compiling enormous debts for years.
Grid operator ADMIE carried out the Public Power Corporation’s order and pulled the plug because of the former steel titan’s failure to reach a settlement over its debts of 31.4 million euros.
An initiative floated several days ago by the Energy Ministry gave Halyvourgiki some more time to come up with a repayment plan proposal, but the steel company did not respond.
The first steel company in Greece, Halyvourgiki was established in 1925. During the 1960’s and 1970’s Halyvourgiki was the only vertically-integrated steel maker in Greece, using iron ore as raw material for the production of finished products.
The company ceased production of steel in 2015, and according to its owner Constantinos Angelopoulos, the sole reason the business had continued to operate was to protect its workers.
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