Going Their Own Way

On June 2, 1998, a completely new chapter began for Salzgitter AG in its at that time already 140-year history. The parent company at that time, Preussag put its focus increasingly on the tourism sector and wanted to spin-off its steel activities. The Federal State of Lower Saxony and Norddeutsche Landesbank intervened in order to protect Lower Saxony as a location for steel production and secure the associated jobs. They enabled the company, which concurrently changed its name from Preussag Stahl AG to Salzgitter AG, to become independent and stock listed. Only very few observers believed in a perpetual independence of the fledging company. Who would have thought that a quarter of a century later Salzgitter AG would not only still exist as an independent and successful company, but, even more, by now is pioneer of the German and European basic materials industry.

To mark the company’s 25th anniversary on the stock exchange, a festive opening bell ceremony was held on June 14, 2023, in the trading floor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. At 9 a.m., Burkhard Becker, then Chief Financial Officer of Salzgitter, and other Salzgitter employees rang the bell to open the trading day.