Service Centers

Reliance’s Latest Acquisitions: Nu-Tech, Admiral Metals

December 14, 2021

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. announced two more acquisitions this month, bringing the total to 70 since the service center giant’s IPO in 1994. The latest additions to Reliance’s portfolio are Admiral Metals Servicecenter Co. Inc. and Nu-Tech Precision Metals Inc.

Reliance Admiral Metals, Woburn, Mass., is a distributor of nonferrous metal products serving the semiconductor, automotive, medical, infrastructure, aerospace and industrial markets through its eight locations. Its broad product offering includes aluminum, brass, bronze, copper, stainless steel and steel in a variety of forms and shapes.

Admiral Metals reported annual sales of $134 million in 2020. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“Admiral Metals has built a strong reputation in the metals industry for providing specialty products, high levels of customer service and next-day delivery,” Reliance CEO Jim Hoffman said. “Admiral Metals fits within Reliance’s growth strategy and complements Reliance’s existing business by increasing our product breadth in specialty nonferrous products. We believe this acquisition will enable Admiral Metals to leverage Reliance’s scale in order to capitalize on further growth opportunities while maintaining its strong brand recognition.”

Earlier this month, Reliance acquired Nu-Tech Precision Metals, a custom manufacturer of specialty extruded metals, fabricated parts and welded components. Headquartered in Arnprior, near Ottawa, Ontario, Nu-Tech serves a wide variety of markets across North America, including the nuclear, aerospace and military markets. Nu-Tech’s broad product offering includes tube, pipe, engineered shapes, and round and flat bar from pure metals and alloys of titanium, zirconium, copper, nickel, hafnium, niobium and steel.

Nu-Tech reported annual sales of $44 million in 2020. Terms of that transaction also were not disclosed.

“Nu-Tech’s focus on specialty products with high levels of value-added processing aligns with our business model and strategy of investing in high-quality, high-margin businesses,” said Hoffman. “Nu-Tech has built a respected and established position in the key markets they serve through their proprietary processes and quality certifications. Further, Nu-Tech supports Reliance’s customer, product and geographical diversification strategy and increases our product breadth in specialty metals.”

Founded in 1939 and headquartered in Los Angeles, Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. is a leading global diversified metal solutions provider and the largest metals service center company in North America. Through a network of approximately 300 locations in 40 states and 13 countries outside of the United States, Reliance provides value-added metals processing services and distributes a full-line of over 100,000 metal products to more than 125,000 customers in a broad range of industries.

By Tim Triplett, Tim@SteelMarketUpdate.com