Steel Mills

Liberty Steel Acquires Johnstown Wire Technologies

June 10, 2019

Liberty Steel has announced the acquisition of Johnstown Wire Technologies, a producer of value-added carbon and alloy wire, in Johnstown, Pa.

The acquisition will give Liberty the capacity to manufacture a range of high-value carbon and alloy wire products for multiple end markets including the infrastructure, automotive, utility and consumer sectors. The Johnstown operations will complement Liberty’s melting and rolling operations at Georgetown, S.C., and Peoria, Ill., and its scrap processing business in Tampa, Fla.

The 638,000-square-foot Johnstown site has been a high-profile steel manufacturing facility for over 100 years and is a top-three U.S. producer of the types of steel that will be needed to modernize America’s aging infrastructure – CHQ, electro-galvanized, aluminized and spring wire. JWT currently holds the top market position in the electro-galvanized and aluminized sectors, the company claims.

Liberty Steel intends to drive growth at JWT as the U.S. updates its infrastructure and electricity networks, thereby increasing demand for steel products such as support cables and guard rails for bridges and for electrical power lines.

With more than half of JWT’s output sold into the transportation market, Liberty is also aiming to capitalize on continued growth in U.S. vehicle production. It is the third largest producer in the U.S. of CHQ wire, which is used in automotive products such as engine block bolts and brake pad rivets.

The acquisition will also add substantially to Liberty’s capability to meet the “Made in America” specifications required for public infrastructure and utility contracts.

Grant Quasha, Chief Investment Officer for parent company GFG in North America, said: “This is another very significant step towards our ambitious U.S. goals. JWT is a profitable business with a skilled workforce and tremendous pedigree in the industry, so we look forward to welcoming it into the GFG USA family and helping it build an even stronger future.”

Liberty entered the U.S. market in 2017 with the acquisition of ArcelorMittal’s Georgetown mill, followed by the purchase of Keystone Consolidated Industries, including its flagship Peoria mill, in 2018.

Sanjeev Gupta, GFG Group executive chairman, added: “It’s a great pleasure to welcome 250 highly-skilled new members to our family. Integration upstream and downstream with value-added product manufacturing is an absolute core to our U.S. steel strategy.”