Nucor, ArcelorMittal make building products acquisitions

Two steelmakers make acquisitions poised to offer end markets for the steel they produce.

rytec corporation steel doors
The CEO of Nucor says its acquisition of Rytec “further executes our strategy to expand beyond our core steelmaking businesses into related downstream businesses.”
Photo courtesy of Rytec Corp.

Two sizable steelmaking companies have announced acquisitions of firms that make building products typically containing steel.

In the United States, Nucor Corp. has entered into an agreement to acquire Wisconsin-based Rytec Corp., a manufacturer and seller of high-speed, high-performance commercial doors.

“Rytec is a leader in high-performance commercial doors and serves several growing end user markets,” Nucor President and CEO Leon Topalian says. “This acquisition further executes our strategy to expand beyond our core steelmaking businesses into related downstream businesses. Adding high-performance doors will create cross-selling opportunities with other Nucor businesses and greatly expand Nucor’s product portfolio serving the commercial arena.”

Nucor, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, operates a network of electric arc furnace (EAF) mills in the U.S., most of which include a high percentage of recycled steel as feedstock.

“The combination of Rytec with C.H.I. Overhead Doors [acquired by Nucor in  2022] will create an overhead door platform that will deliver superior product breadth and solutions to Nucor’s commercial customers," says Chad Utermark, executive vice president of new markets and innovation at Nucor.

In Europe, the construction business unit of Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal has completed its acquisition of Italpannelli SRL of Italy and Italpannelli Iberica of Spain. The steelmaker previously acquired Italpannelli Germany last March.

Italpannelli manufactures lightweight insulation panels for roofs and façades with an capacity of 13 million “sandwich panels” per year.

The global steel producer says the acquisition “significantly increases” ArcelorMittal Construction’s capabilities in its panel business to deliver products to new markets and offers “significant potential for further organic growth.”

ArcelorMittal operates EAF and blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steelmaking complexes globally. In the past several years, the company has been investing to convert several of its BOF sites to use EAF technology, and likely a higher percentage of recycled steel as feedstock.