Dutch Court Ruling Moves Esmark
a Step Closer to Buying Weirton
As a result of a European court ruling, and a tentative deal with Mittal USA, Esmark has moved closer to acquiring another steel producer.
The Chicago-based service center company, which won its takeover bid of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. at the end of 2006, has agreed to a memorandum of understanding with Mittal to purchase the producers’ tin mill products business in Weirton, W.Va. The non-binding agreement hinges on several contingencies, the most important of them being Mittal’s requirement to sell Weirton.
That possibility became more likely when the president of the Rotterdam District Court in The Netherlands denied ThyssenKrupp AG’s petition order directing Mittal Steel Co. NV to cause Arcelor S.A. to initiate legal proceedings against the Strategic Steel Stichting. The Stichting owns 89 percent of Canadian steel producer Dofasco.
The court ruled that Mittal Steel couldn’t be expected to do more than it already has done to seek dissolution of the Stichting.
Previously, the boards of Mittal Steel and Arcelor S.A. decided not to initiate litigation to dissolve the Stichting, an independent Dutch group, after legal experts informed the company that a successful lawsuit was unlikely.
Arcelor had created the Stichting during its efforts to fend off takeover attempts by Mittal in 2006. Mittal had agreed with European regulators to sell Dofasco to ThyssenKrupp AG if it acquired Arcelor. But after the Arcelor Mittal merger was completed, the Stichting’s board voted not to dissolve and to retain Dofasco’s shares.
In the event Dofasco cannot be sold, Mittal Steel USA has agreed to sell its Weirton mill to Esmark. For antitrust reasons, the U.S. Department of Justice ordered Mittal to sell either its Weirton or Sparrows Point, Md., facilities if it cannot divest Dofasco.
The agreement signed with Esmark “allows us to prepare for a swift execution of the disposal of the Weirton assets in case Dofasco cannot be sold and the Department of Justice asks us to sell these operations,” says Lou Schorsch, CEO of Mittal Steel USA.
Marmon/Keystone Hits 100
Marmon/Keystone has kicked off the company’s 100th anniversary with the introduction of a new slogan, “A Century of Service.” The slogan was the winning entry in a contest among the company’s employees.
The company was founded in Butler County, Pa., in 1907, and spent its early years supplying used pipe and oil well supplies to the booming western Pennsylvania oil industry. Today, the company inventories more than 15,000 sizes and grades of carbon, alloy, stainless steel and aluminum tubular and bar products at service centers throughout North America.
“Certainly we’ve come a long way. We’ve weathered the Great Depression, the storms of war and survived economic ups and downs,” says Norman E. Gottschalk Jr., president. “We at Marmon/Keystone are proud of our accomplishments and our heritage, and we’re grateful and humble that we’ve reached this milestone. We eagerly look forward to the challenges of a new century of service.”
Main Steel to Expand Youngstown Facilities
Main Steel Polishing Co., Tinton Falls, N.J., has announced the addition of 34,000 square feet at its Youngstown, Ohio, plant.
This brings the total area utilized by Main Steel to 208,000 square feet, making it the largest of the company’s 10 North America processing locations. The new space will be used to increase coil storage capacities, as well as to streamline the flow of materials through the plant.
The company plans to add a Herr-Voss Strand Extensioner to its existing Stamco slitter line. The Extensioner will be used to level and correct the shape of materials up to 60 inches wide and up to 0.125 inch thick. It will provide the ability to flatten the material and allow for multiple cuts without the use of drag pads, eliminating the potential for damage to the metal’s finish. The line has also been upgraded with a quarter-inch crop shear and a peeler table to feed materials directly into the machine.
Nelson Joins PNA Group
Industry veteran Maurice S. “Sandy” Nelson Jr. has been appointed chief executive officer of PNA Group, a steel processor and distributor. Nelson, a former Metal Center News Executive of the Year, retired as CEO and executive director of Earle M. Jorgensen Co. in 2006 following the company’s acquisition by Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.
“I am excited to join PNA Group and its high-energy senior management team,” says Nelson, who was expected to join the company Feb. 1. “Under the leadership of Platinum Equity, the company is poised for growth as a leading provider of steel products and services to a wide range of steel consuming industries.”
PNA Group was acquired by Platinum Equity in May 2006, and then expanded via the add-on acquisition of Metals Supply Co. a short time later. The business generates annual revenue of more than $1.5 billion.
Before his work at EMJ, Nelson was president and CEO of Inland Steel Co., and president of the aerospace and commercial division at Alcoa.
Red Bud to Host Two Seminars in Canada
Red Bud Industries will host two coil processing seminars in Canada on April 17 and 19. The first will be at the Casablanca Winery Inn in Grimsby, and the second at Le Centre Sheraton Montreal Hotel.
Both seminars will feature information on blanking, multi-blanking, leveling, slitting, and new processes for hot-roll black (SCS and EPS) material, along with discussions on how to apply new technology, improve tolerances, produce optimum flatness and maximize overall efficiency.
The April 19 seminar will include a tour of Les Aciers Blais Inc., a local service center that recently installed a new Red Bud cut-to-length line with an inline stretcher leveler.
For more information, call 800-851-4612 or e-mail rbi@redbudindustries.com.
Reliance Completes 2006 Acquisitions
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. has completed the acquisitions of Crest Steel Corp., Industrial Metals and Surplus Inc. and Athens Steel Inc.
Crest, Carson, Calif., will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance. Its management team will remain in place except for company founder and former Chairman Phil Steinberg, who will continue as a director and remain as a consultant through a transition period.
Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Siskin Steel & Supply Co., a Reliance subsidiary, completed the acquisition of Industrial Metals, Atlanta, and related company Athens Steel, Athens, Ga. Management teams at both companies will remain in place.
Briefs
McNichols Co., Tampa, Fla., has announced an affiliation with Arizona State University’s Center for Services Leadership. Additionally, McNichols President Herb Goetschius has been appointed to the advisory board of the CSL. The globally recognized 40-member CSL strives to improve the business and academic understanding of the distinctive and growing role of services in organizations and with customers.
Kenwal Steel Corp. has installed a new SMS Demag Ltd. slitting line at its steel processing and distribution center in Dearborn, Mich. The line will have a capacity of 0.250 inches by 72 inches by 70,000 pounds and run at a speed up to 900 feet per minute.
New Millennium Steel has installed a new SMS Demag Ltd. slitting line at its steel processing and distribution center in Salem, Va. The line will have a capacity of 0.209 inches by 62 inches, slitting 60,000 pound coils at speeds up to 500 feet per minute and making 11 cuts at maximum gauge.
Raco Steel Co., is expanding blanking capabilities at its Markham, Ill., location with a new 10-gauge Red Bud multi-blanking line, scheduled to be installed in the summer. The 72-inch-wide, 0.135-inch multi-blanking line will handle coils up to 50,000 pounds. The line will consist of a coil stage and load system, uncoiler, peeler, crop shear, pop-up flatness inspection table, motorized grip feed system, CNC programmable slitter, shear mounted stacker with drop stack-air flotation system, part diverter and auto strip stacker.
The Plymouth Tube Co., Warren ville, Ill., has expanded its license with AXIS Computer Systems to deploy AXIOM sales and accounts receivable functionality company wide, including the Carbon and Alloy Tube Group and White Metals Group. Plymouth Tube
will also implement the AXIOM e-commerce extension and eSuite web-based customer-service application.
Butech Bliss has received an order for a new shimless knife scrap chopper from The Material Works, Red Bud, Ill. The chopper will be integrated into the company’s existing cut-to-length line. It will replace winders to increase scrap value and overall line production capabilities processing material up to 74-inches wide and 0.3125-inches thick with a shear strength of 80,000 psi at speeds up to 300 feet per minute.
National Tube Supply Co., University Park, Ill., has chosen Verticent ERP Plus for its enterprise software solution system. The system to be employed includes RF data collection, customer relationship management and pre-built business intelligence applications.
Dayton Steel Services has selected the AXIOM Enterprise Management System for its enterprise resource planning system. Dayton Steel will use AXIOM, a product of AXIS Computer Systems, at its service centers in Dayton, Ohio and Rome, Ga.
Willbanks Metals Inc., Fort Worth, Texas; has chosen Verticent to provide steel ERP software. Willbanks Metals will implement Verticent software at its steel and aluminum service centers.
Lafayette Steel Sales has chosen Invera’s enterprise product STRATIX for implementation at two locations. The Indianapolis facility, which stocks and processes carbon and aluminum coils, will be implementing the STRATIX Flat Rolled Production modules specific to processes such as slitting, cut-to-length and multi-strand blanking. The aluminum fabrication division in Lafayette, Ind. will employ the STRATIX multi-step production system.
Bayern Software, a developer of enterprise software solutions for metal service centers and distributors, announced today that MX Enterprise Systems, KC Pipe, Burleson Pipe and Steel, West Coast Steel Tube, and Joseph Fazzio Inc. have all selected STEEL PLUS for their business and inventory management needs.
Almetals Co., Wixom, Mich., has received two Zero-Defect Quality Awards from customers Federal Mogul and Borg-Warner. The awards are given to suppliers who have demonstrated the ability to meet and exceed customer expectations in the areas of delivery, quality, and innovation.
Paragon Steel, Butler, Ind., has been awarded an ISO/TS 16949 and ISO 9001:2000 quality management system certificates from SRI Quality Systems Registrar. The certificates were for the company’s facilities processing hot-rolled, cold-rolled and galvanized products.
Keystone Specialty Metals has installed a new heavy plate edging line at its Bensalem, Pa., headquarters. Keystone now has six flat-roll processing lines, including three light-gauge and three heavy-gauge. The new line increases Keystone’s production capacity by 14 percent, says Scott Fine, Keystone vice president.
Obituary: Fred Straub
Straub Metal founder Fred Straub died Jan. 5 at the age of 68. A two-time cancer survivor, Straub died as a result of complications from his battles with the disease.
Born in Philadelphia, Straub graduated from Drexel University with a degree in business. He worked 10 years for U.S. Steel Corp. in the Philadelphia area before forming his own firm in 1975 in Bear Creek, Pa. He later moved the company to Ashley, Pa.
Straub Metal was founded as a one-man manufacturer’s representative for various steel-related companies. It ultimately began to specialize in the distribution of Type 409 and Type 439 stainless steel to service centers, OEMs and fabricators. The company grew to nine locations across the United States.
Fred Straub retired from the firm in 2001, turning over control to son Doug Straub, who will remain in charge of the company along with John Parsons, general sales manager, and Dee McConnel, controller.
People
Sean Tillmon has been promoted to operations manager of Almetals’ branch location in Austell, Ga. He will be responsible for day-to-day operations of the facility, including customer service, production scheduling and quality.
The Steel Supply Co., has made several personnel changes. The Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based company has hired Teresa Dorsey as senior buyer, bar products; Colleen Ossler as senior inside sales correspondent; Adam Barrons as inside sales representative; Melissa Ewing as purchasing assistant; and Ronald Pretzie as Midwest sales representative.
DeWitt Weldon has joined MK Express Co., a subsidiary of Marmon/Keystone Corp., Butler, Pa., as assistant general manager. DeWitt has 18 years experience in transportation-related operations, management and sales. He will report to V. Clark Hamerly, general manager.
Ferguson Metals, Hamilton, Ohio, has promoted James G. Huggard to chief operating officer and vice president of human resources. Huggard has 20 years experience in sales, marketing and human resources.
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