Steel Dynamics will acquire Heartland, a flat-rolled steel producer based in Terre Haute, Ind. Heartland is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brazil’s Companhia Siderurgica National LLC. The purchase price was $400 million, according to the company.
Heartland produces various types of higher-margin, flat-roll steel by further processing hot-roll coils into pickle and oil, cold-roll, and galvanized products. The acquisition will expand Steel Dynamics' annual flat-roll steel shipping capacity to 8.4 million tons and total shipping capability to 12.4 million tons.
The additional exposure to lighter gauge and greater width flat-roll steel offerings will broaden the company's value-added product portfolio, the company claims.
Heartland has the annual capability to produce 1 million tons of cold-roll steel, with galvanizing capacity of 360,000 tons. Heartland is comprised of a continuous pickle line, a cold mill and a galvanizing line. The equipment has been upgraded, well-maintained and is in excellent operating condition, SDI executives said.
"The acquisition of Heartland represents a step in the continuation of our growth strategy," said Mark D. Millett, CEO of SDI. "It levers our core strengths, and at the same time fulfills our initiatives to further increase value-added product and market diversification. We look forward to welcoming the Heartland employees and customers into the Steel Dynamics family and working with them to drive future growth and success."
Historically, Heartland has been operated at low utilization, primarily focusing on galvanized products. SDI’s plans are to utilize the full capacity of the facility, providing high-quality cold-roll, pickle and oil, and galvanized products. The geographic proximity to Steel Dynamics' other flat-roll operations and certain fabrication locations provides opportunities related to logistics and production efficiencies throughout the supply chain and customer network, according to the company.