Scrap Industry News

ONYX BUYS INDIANA SCRAP YARD

According to a report in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, ISG has agreed to pay $65 million for Acme’s Riverdale mini-mill, which has been closed since last year. The Acme mill will join the group of former LTV assets in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois purchased by ISG four months ago.

Observers believe the Riverdale mill will supply raw steel to the former LTV finishing mill in Hennepin, Ill., which is the only former LTV plant not to re-open yet.

ISG Chairman Wilbur Ross Jr. told the Plain Dealer that investors and lenders have been receptive to the way the company has operated, giving them confidence to make the Acme purchase.

He also noted that the Acme assets were purchased at a very reasonable price. "These are facilities that cost something approaching $350 million to build. We’re buying them for $65 [million]," he told the newspaper. The deal requires the approval of a bankruptcy judge before it is finalized.

A troubled Oklahoma mini-mill is also ready to compete again.

Sheffield Steel Corp., Sand Springs, Okla., has received suitable financing and reached agreement with creditors to allow it to emerge from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy status.

The company and its two subsidiaries, Wadell’s Rebar Fabricators and Wellington Industries, have arranged for $30 million in new bonds and an additional $35 million line of credit provided by CIT Group Inc., New York.

"We are all looking forward to our future as a strong, competitive company," says Sheffield Steel Corp. president and CEO James P. Nolan. "Recent legislation by Congress will attempt to control the illegal dumping of imported steel, and energy costs have stabilized considerably," he adds.

"Sheffield was burdened with significant debt at a time when energy costs spiked, steel imports surged and the economy slumped," Nolan says.

The Sheffield mini-mill makes special bar quality and other steel hot-rolled bar products plus rebar. Other facilities owned by the company make fabricated products such as fence posts and railroad track spikes.

Sheffield also operates a rolling mill in Joliet, Ill., two fabrication shops in the Kansas City area and a railroad spike production facility in Oklahoma.

SDI WINS BID FOR QUALITECH MILL

The sale of the Qualitech steel mill in Pittsboro, Ind., to Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI), Fort Wayne, Ind., has been approved by several judges in that state.

Acccording to the Indianapolis Star, the Indiana Supreme Court, the Indiana Court of Appeals and a Hendricks County judge have all denied attempts by Nucor Corp., Charlotte, N.C., to stop Steel Dynamics from closing on the purchase of the Qualitech mill.

On July 29, Steel Dynamics announced its offer of $45 million in cash for Qualitech, topping Nucor’s earlier offer of $37 million. At that time, Nucor CEO Dan DiMicco commented, "We are very surprised by this announcement. Nucor had been proceeding in good faith to complete its due diligence, obtain necessary approvals and resolve all other outstanding matters in order to close this transaction within the next few days. Nucor is investigating the implications of this announcement and intends to pursue all of its options, including legal."

An attorney for Nucor told AP in August that the company had been trying to complete the deal, but that Qualitech officials were stalling.

Steel Dynamics said the exclusive sales agreement that Nucor had with Qualitech expired, which left an opening for SDI to start negotiations.