- Liberty Steel Group’s $28m bid represents the preferred cash bid for Bayou Steel
- The acquisition will be in alignment with Liberty Steel Group’s GREENSTEEL vision
- Deal would boost Liberty Steel Group US productive capacity to 3 million tons per annum
- Liberty plans upgrades to restore strategic asset before restarting steel making in 2021
Liberty Steel Group, part of the GFG Alliance, announces that it has been named preferred buyer for Bayou Steel Group, the US producer of structural steel and merchant bar which ceased operation and entered administration at the end of September 2019.
Subject to completion of a $28 million deal to acquire the business, Liberty has developed a plan to upgrade and modernise Bayou’s idled steel mill in LaPlace, Louisiana, with a view to re-starting its recycling operations in the second half of 2020 and steel making operations by 2021. The transaction is expected to close on January 31, 2020.
Bayou adds scale to Liberty’s US steel business, which includes existing operations in Illinois, Ohio, New Mexico and South Carolina. The group is pursuing a GREENSTEEL strategy of focusing on renewable sources of energy and recycled materials, with a view to moving towards carbon neutral steel production by 2030.
Commenting on the acquisition, Sanjeev Gupta, Executive Chairman of GFG Alliance said: “We look forward to welcoming Bayou Steel into the GFG Alliance family. While the plant requires upgrades to be restarted competitively, we see good potential for the business. Bayou benefits from reliable access to supplies of recycled steel, competitive power prices and its own deep-water port.”
Read the full media release on the LIBERTY Steel Group website
