Coil Coaters

AZZ Buys Acme to Expand Midwest Presence

Written by Michael Cowden

January 6, 2021

Metal coater AZZ Inc. has acquired privately held hot-dip galvanizing and zinc electroplating company Acme Galvanizing Inc.

The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, includes all of Milwaukee-based Acme’s assets.

The deal will extend the reach of Fort Worth, Texas-based AZZ into the Midwest, the company said. “With the acquisition of Acme, AZZ enhances its scope of metal coating services in the Midwest with the addition of four advanced, fully automated zinc plating lines and a totally enclosed galvanizing kettle,” said AZZ Metal Coatings President and Chief Operating Officer Bryan L. Stovall.

Acme’s 80,000-square-foot facility in Milwaukee will operate under the name “AZZ Galvanizing and Plating – Milwaukee.” Its addition will boost AZZ’s network of North American hot-dip galvanizing sites to 40, the company said. Founded in 1919, Acme has been in the metal coating business for more than 100 years.

AZZ has gone on a buying spree in recent years with other purchases including Dallas-Fort Worth area powder coating company Preferred Industries, Jasper, Tenn.-based galvanizer Tennessee Galvanizing, and electroplating company NuZinc, also located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The deal for Acme comes during a period of historically high prices for steel sheet, including prices for hot-dipped galvanized material.

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is managing editor for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He has since 2014 specialized in flat-rolled steel but has previously reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube as well as aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago - where he was involved in launching AMM's daily hot-rolled coil index, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

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