German metallurgical plant engineering company SMS group has agreed to acquire Metso’s ferrous metals business, which includes the former Outotec Circored process for producing direct reduced iron (DRI) from iron ore fines.
Finland-based Metso said in 2023 it intended to sell the business. The Helsinki-listed company hasn’t disclosed the sale price, saying the deal had “no material profit and loss impact on Metso”.
SMS, which turned over more than €4 billion last year, said the purchase of Metso’s agglomeration and calcination technologies was in line with its aim to integrate “sustainable processing methods for minerals and metals to drive the decarbonisation of the steel industry”.
“The transaction includes technologies which SMS aims at developing further to the benefit of customers, supporting the green steel strategy as well as further strengthening the service portfolio; for example, with sintering and traveling grate pelletising as well as fluidised bed technologies,” it said.
Circored is described as a 100% hydrogen-based process that produces DRI or hot briquetted iron that can be fed directly to an electric arc furnace. It had proven its “functionality and performance” in an industrial-scale demonstration plant, according to Metso.
“The intention is for the Circored technology to help us pursue our ambition to be a leading partner in the green transformation of the metals industry,” SMS chief technology officer, Thomas Hansmann said.
About 180 Metso employees in Germany, India and China are expected to join SMS when the transaction closes in the first quarter of 2026.
Metso says other parts of its ferrous and heat transfer and metals and chemical processing businesses reported as discontinued operations but which have a “positive market outlook and strong synergies with the company’s offering to the copper and battery minerals industries” are being retained while it winds down the rest. Retained components would be reported in its minerals segment.
