Liberty Steel USA completes acquisition of Keystone Consolidated

Steel, base metals and mining group GFG Alliance said Wednesday its Liberty Steel USA subsidiary had completed the acquisition of US long steel maker Keystone Consolidated Industries for $320 million, as the news portal "S&P Global" reports. Accoring to the report, Liberty Steel also confirmed its intendtion to list the US business via an initial public offering on either NYSE or NASDAQ.

CI and its subsidiaries consist of a 1.1 million mt/year electric arc furnace operation and various lines of value-added steel, including welded wire reinforcement mesh, agricultural wire fence - the RedBrand products, pre-stressed concrete strand, MBQ/SBQ bar and coiled rebar.The enlarged Liberty Steel USA will have up to 1.8 million mt/year of EAF melting capacity plus downstream businesses. The combined operations will have over 1,300 employees and operations in Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas.

GFG Alliance had an active 2018, making offers to acquire steelmakers, aluminum smelters and mines around the globe.The most recent deal - completed in December - was the $500 million takeover of Europe's largest aluminum smelter, Rio Tinto's Dunkerque operations in France.

Source: S&P Global, photo: fotoalia