Four electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mills in Knoxville, Tennessee; Jacksonville, Florida; Sayreville, New Jersey; and Rancho Cucamonga, California, as well as 33 rebar fabrication facilities are among the assets included in an acquisition agreement between steelmaker Commercial Metals Co. (CMC), located in Irving, Texas, and Brazil-based steelmaker Gerdau S.A..
CMC operates heat treating and related facilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Alabama, in addition to steel mills, fabrication facilities, and other operations throughout the world. The mills and facilities included in Gerdau’s divestment have annual rolling capacity of 2.5 million tons, increasing CMC’s global melt capacity to 7.2 million tons.
“This acquisition aligns with our strategy to focus on our strength in concrete reinforcing products and leverages CMC’s core competencies in rebar production and value-added fabrication services to nonresidential construction customers,” said Barbara Smith, president and CEO of CMC. “In addition, these assets provide us the opportunity to optimize our product mix more fully in the U.S. As a leader in rebar manufacturing technology and customer service, we are excited to take advantage of our expertise to increase throughput, lower costs and improve the customer experience in our new operations.”
The deal, which is expected to close before the end of 2018, would leave Gerdau with three fabrication shops in the U.S..
