Olympic Steel, Inc., a U.S. metals service center, announced that it has acquired Chicago Tube and Iron Company (CTI) for $150 million in cash and $6 million of indebtedness, according to Olympic Steel’s press release. Under the new contract, CTI will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Olympic. Part of the transaction includes Dr. Donald McNeeley, President and COO of CTI, entering into a five year employment agreement with Olympic and is expected to become a member of Olympic's board of directors. Bob Haigh, CTI’s Chairman and CEO, will be retiring in November 2011.

Michael D. Siegal, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Olympic Steel said, “CTI is expected to be immediately accretive to our earnings. We are excited to enhance our commercial opportunities, as we add the combined companies’ product offerings to our expanded customer base. CTI also increases our distribution footprint with its network of ten operations. With our other recently announced expansions, Olympic and CTI combined will operate from 30 locations to serve our growing customer base.”

The transaction is expected to close on July 1, 2011 once the waiting periods and final approvals are finished.

According to the press release, “CTI is one of the largest steel service centers in the United States, with ten operations throughout the Midwest. Inventory, fabrication and processing is facilitated in over 1.2 million square feet of efficient, state-of-the-art facilities. CTI inventories over 30,000 line items of tubing, pipe, bar, valves and fittings from some of the world’s premier manufacturers.”