Media Type: Active

Liberty Steel and Wire Peoria was today 19th September named as the 2019 winner of the prestigious Don B Daily Achievement in Safety Award, from the Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) in recognition of its ‘impressive commitment’ to improving safety performance at the company’s 1,100-worker Illinois plant.

The honour for the flagship wire rod mill from America’s largest steel industry trade association was announced at a celebratory lunch for steelmakers after the Fall meeting of the SMA’s safety and HR committee, held in Tampa, Florida.

Read the full media release on the Liberty website

Liberty Steel Hartlepool, part of Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, has secured a milestone contract to manufacture more than 16 kilometres of heavy-duty steel pipe for a multi-billion-dollar offshore Saudi Arabian oil and gas development.

The order to supply SAWL Linepipe for an expansion of the Saudi Aramco Marjan field is the first major contract the Hartlepool mills have won from the Middle Eastern Kingdom since being acquired by Liberty almost two years ago.

Since then the plant has fulfilled major orders from North Sea oil and gas producers and a range of American customers but the latest contract represents a breakthrough in efforts to establish a presence in the world’s largest oil and gas producing region.

Saudi Aramco is the world’s biggest oil and gas company by revenue and Liberty is hopeful the prestigious Marjan contract will lead to further opportunities in Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf region. Saudi Aramco is planning to boost the Marjan and Berri fields’ production capacity by 550,000 barrels per day of crude oil and 2.5 billion standard cubic feet a day of gas.

Liberty in conjunction with Sumitomo Corporation Middle East FZE, will supply the Marjan project with more than 16 kilometres of Submerged Arc Welded Linepipe (SAWL) from its 42-inch UOE mill, one of two mills it operates at Hartlepool. The offshore Linepipe, suitable for highly-resilient ‘sour service’ application, is due for delivery in the final quarter of 2019.

Martyn Curnow, Commercial Director, Liberty Steel Hartlepool commented: “Our facility has a proven global track record of managing projects with stringent technical requirements. The team, led by Steve Brooke in the UK and Saad Jakani in the United Arab Emirates, worked tirelessly with the client to ensure that the demanding specification was fully understood and delivered a robust technical proposal which we are sure was a key consideration in the evaluation and acceptance of our offer.”

“It is extremely pleasing to re-establish the Hartlepool mill as a supplier in the region following a significant period of absence. This success is testament to the hard work and commitment shown by our employees in all areas of the business.”

Masaki Nakagaki, General Manager of Tubular Products Unit, Sumitomo Corporation Middle East FZE said: “Sumitomo Corporation Middle East has a strong presence in Middle East for supply of Tubular products and this recent success is testimony of our efforts to contribute to growth of the Oil & Gas sector in the region with partners like Liberty Pipes Hartlepool.”

Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of the GFG Alliance, said: “We’re delighted to have secured this very important order. Given that we are operating in very tough market conditions, the award of this contract further underlines the quality of the work at Hartlepool and the team’s ability to meet the highest global standards.”

The GFG Alliance’s success in acquiring the flagship wire rod producer KCI only months after entering the American steel market has been honoured at the annual ‘Awards for Steel Excellence’ in New York.

GFG and its metals and industrials business, Liberty Steel USA, received the ‘Best Mergers and Acquisitions’ award for the $320m deal in December 2018 which catapulted the UK-headquartered group to the forefront of wire rod production in the U.S.

The Alliance’s top North American management team along with executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta, accepted the prestigious title during the showcase Steel Success Strategies conference in Manhattan this week.

The acquisition of KCI with its pivotal mill at Peoria, Illinois, gave Liberty Steel USA a firm foothold in the country’s wire rod production sector, adding 1.1m tonnes of electric arc furnace (EAF) capacity and rolling mills to the melting and rolling facilities at Georgetown, South Carolina, that GFG bought in 2017 and restarted in summer 2018.

GFG recently consolidated its position at the head of the wire rod market with the acquisition of Johnstown Wire Technologies in Pennsylvania, North America’s largest producer of value-added carbon and alloy wire.

Sanjeev Gupta commented: “We’ve had a flying start to our American journey, led by an excellent U.S management team and supported by a skilled and committed American workforce. We’re really excited about the future because we recognise the huge market opportunities emerging over the coming years as the country renews its infrastructure and sees continued growth in manufacturing. We aim to further strengthen our position in wire rod and also move into other segments of the market.”

The KCI deal was supported by large North American banks including Wells Fargo NA and BMO Harris Bank (BMO Harris), along with funds managed by BlackRock Financial Management Inc., a subsidiary of BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager.

Keystone and Georgetown to provide foundation for expansion into North America

New York, NY – 2 January 2019 – Sanjeev Gupta’s global GFG Alliance took a substantial step towards its ambition to become a major US steel producer by completing its purchase of Keystone Consolidated Industries (KCI), for US$320m from Contran Corporation.

The London-headquartered Alliance said the addition of KCI to Liberty Steel USA creates one of the country’s largest producers of wire rod and provides a platform for GFG to grow its US GREENSTEEL capacity to 5m tons per annum by 2020.

Completion of the deal, which was supported by large North American banks including Wells Fargo NA and BMO Harris Bank (BMO Harris), along with funds managed by BlackRock Financial Management Inc., a subsidiary of BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, helps pave the way towards a proposed US IPO of Liberty Steel USA, which will be led by Credit Suisse. The transaction follows closely on the completion of Liberty Aluminium’s US$500m purchase of Dunkirk, Europe’s largest aluminium smelter, which was arranged by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and a syndicate of top tier international banks.

The acquisition of KCI reinforces GFG’s credentials as a significant foreign direct investor in North America. The business is moving into a new regional head office on Madison Avenue in New York and is targeting several other major investment opportunities in the North American industrial, energy and financial sectors.

KCI’s family of companies include Keystone Steel & Wire, Engineered Wire Products, Strand Tech Manufacturing and Keystone Bar Products. The KCI range of products is made of 100% American produced steel and consists of a diverse line of high-quality value-added steel products, including steel billet, wire rod, reinforcement mesh, welded wire, agricultural wire fence, prestressed concrete strand, bar and coiled rebar used in the construction, agricultural, automotive industries. KCI has been consistently profitable and has substantially improved its financial performance over the last 5 years as it expanded significantly into value-added products to augment its original position as a pre-eminent supplier of low carbon wire rod.

The acquisition strengthens Liberty’s position in the US market with the addition of a top-producing wire rod facility with a 1.1m-ton capacity electric arc furnace (EAF), the market leading agricultural fence products of RedBrand®, industrial wire, an MBQ/SBQ bar mill, three welded wire reinforcement mesh facilities and a PC strand facility.

KCI will be combined with Liberty Steel Georgetown to give Liberty Steel USA a total of up to 1.8m tons per annum of EAF melting capacity, 2m tons per annum of wire rod rolling capacity, significant value-added downstream businesses and over 1,300 employees. The combined company will have operations in Illinois, Ohio, South Carolina, New Mexico, Texas and Georgia.

Liberty was advised by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Wyelands Capital Ltd. Norton Rose Fulbright US and Alvarez & Marsal. The total $320m consideration includes the acquisition by Liberty of certain liabilities.

GFG Executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta said: “Today is an exciting milestone in our ambitious journey in the United States. I warmly welcome all Keystone employees to the global GFG family. The long history, strong management, excellent work force and industry position of KCI will pair well with our existing Georgetown plant and will serve as a strong base for our continued expansion to 5mmtpa of steel capacity in the region.

“We are very pleased to be working with Wells Fargo, BMO Harris and BlackRock to help build this business. Their support will help us grow our platform in the North American steel value chain and other businesses. 2019 will be an exciting year as we plan to continue to grow our presence in North America and access the public markets.”

Grant Quasha, Chief Investment Officer – North America of the GFG Alliance said:

“Keystone is a high-performing, profitable asset with modern equipment, excellent downstream operations, connections to key markets, highly-skilled workers and strong managers. The company’s outstanding reputation for low carbon wire rod and extensive downstream operations complement our existing expansion and revitalization program at our Georgetown, South Carolina plant.”

“Following the expansion of Liberty’s steel business in the US, we look forward to working with partners to introduce other GFG businesses to the region including GFG’s extensive resources, power and financial services arms.”

CEO of Keystone Consolidated Industries, Chris Armstrong, added:

“I am excited that KCI is joining the GFG group and what this means for the future of the company, its market leading brands, its employees and its customers. GFG is the best possible new parent and partner for KCI’s storied history and future growth. I look forward to being a part of GFG’s unparalleled international growth and to continue KCI’s expansion of its steel and value-added operations in the US and the region.”