Voestalpine reshapes special steels business

Austria's Voestalpine overhauls special steel unit. Austria's Voestalpine said on Wednesday it was restructuring its specialist steel division to help reduce costs and concentrate on fewer products. The division, set up after Voestalpine's takeover of peer Boehler Uddeholm in 2007, has a complicated structure fragmented into nearly 190 individual companies and has struggled badly in the economic downturn, dragging down group earnings. Under the plan, the specialist steel division will concentrate on its high-performance metals and special forgings businesses, which will be merged. Its welding and precision strip operations will be moved out to other divisions. Voestalpine did not say how much money the restructuring would save. The changes will take place from April, the start of the company's 2011 fiscal year.