Luxembourger Roland Junck becomes head of British Steel

Luxembourger Roland Junck

Luxembourger Roland Junck has just been announced as the new Chairman of the Board of British Steel following the lengthy sale of activities in Tata Steel in the UK, and in France the Hayange plant to fund investment company Greybull Capital.

Roland Junck is indeed a man of steel, beginning his career in Luxembourg with Arbed in 2006 as an engineer, and briefly becoming CEO when the ArcelorMittal merger occurred forming the world’s biggest steel group.

He then moved on to become CEO of the nickel producer Nyrstar. Junck was also an advisor to Greybull before they purchased the Hayange plant.

He now faces the task of developing a business model for emerging enterprises which will be a short-term role “until business are running”, Junck explained, and a general manager is found. He forecasts this task to take between six and twelve months.

The Luxembourger will be part of the board of directors but not in an operational role.

The biggest challenge facing Junck is the creation of a separate company from what was previously only a division of Tata Steel and therefore currently has no investment or strategy.

Steel beams produced by British Steel are in fact in direct competition with the Luxembourg sites of ArcelorMittal.

And since June a new spanner has been thrown into the works–the problem of Brexit! “The referendum on United Kingdom membership of the European Union does not make things easier, but perhaps more interesting,” stated Roland Junck.