Vereinigte Edelstahlwerke AG, VEW

Vereinigte Edelstahlwerke AG, VEW: By the law of June 11, 1975 the Gebrüder Böhler & Co AG (Böhler-Werke), the Schoeller-Bleckmann Stahlwerke AG and the Steirische Gußstahlwerke AG Judenburg were amalgamated retroactively as from January 1, 1975 to form the VEW as a wholly-owned subsidiary of VOEST-Alpine AG. This merger was intended to make the Austrian high-grade steel sector internationally competitive, co-operation was to be co-ordinated and a uniform organisational structure was to be created. This construction, however, led to considerable losses which required capital injections totalling ATS 17.3 billion (by 1987) and ultimately resulted in the dissolution (1988) of the business group. Reasons were the international steel crisis, organisational problems of the business group, traditional production ranges of the individual plants and political influence on the management.