Finland’s holding in a pioneering company in fossil steel production has been transferred from the state holding company Solidium directly to the Prime Minister’s Office, as Finland considers SSAB’s shares to be a strategic resource.
SSAB’s Raahe plant is currently Finland’s largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions, but the company has announced plans to introduce fossil-free steel production at the plant in the coming years.
SSAB has tested the new technology in Sweden with good results. Finland’s goal is to be carbon neutral by 2035.
"From the point of view of state ownership, it is important that Finland’s largest industrial source of carbon emissions converts operations to lower carbon," Read the statement of the Prime Minister’s Office. "For this reason, the Ministry of Economy and Labor has now designated the stake as a strategic resource and the shares have been transferred from Solidium to direct state ownership."
The company’s turnover in 2020 was 6.5 billion euros and it employs about 14,000 people. Solidium has been the companyโs third largest single shareholder, holding 6.3 percent of the shares and 8 percent of the voting shares.
The company is listed on both the Stockholm and Helsinki stock exchanges.
Source: The Nordic Page