Steel Mills

BlueScope Closes $240M MetalX Deal as Prime Scrap Rush Continues

Written by Michael Cowden

December 22, 2021

BlueScope Steel has closed its $240 million deal for ferrous scrap recycler MetalX.

With the transaction complete, MetalX will operate under the name BlueScope Recycling and Materials.

northstar bluescope

BlueScope announced the deal in early November and closed it on Dec. 17, according to a statement released earlier this week.

MetalX is the leading scrap supplier to North Star BlueScope, an electric arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill in Delta, Ohio. It processes both prime and obsolete scrap.

BlueScope’s acquisition of the company is part of a trend of mills buying scrap companies to secure what some fear could be increasingly scarce prime scrap – something an Evraz North America executive described on a recent SMU Community Chat as “a rush to acquire dots on the map.”

Two recent examples: BlueScope competitor Cleveland-Cliffs last month announced a $775 million acquisition of Detroit-based Ferrous Processing and Trading Co. (FPT). And Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Algoma has formed a joint venture with Triple M to source prime scrap.

Steel Market Update, meanwhile, continues to hear that other big deals involving steel mills and related scrap suppliers are in the works, with big announcements potentially coming as soon as early January.

By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, 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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