Steel Mills

Reliance Buys Southern Steel Supply

Written by Laura Miller

May 1, 2023

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. has made its first acquisition of 2023, announcing the addition of Southern Steel Supply Co. to its portfolio of service center companies.

RelianceSouthern Steel Supply is based in Memphis, Tenn., supplying merchant and structural steel, pipe and tube, steel plate, ornamental products, and laser-cut and fabricated parts to customers in Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, and Missouri.

The service center, which generated sales of $62.9 million in 2022, will operate as a subsidiary of Reliance’s Siskin Steel & Supply Co.

Commenting on the transaction, Reliance president and CEO Karla Lewis said: “Southern Steel’s reputation for on-time delivery and superior customer service aligns well with our business model and disciplined methodology of acquiring high-quality companies with strong management teams that expand Reliance’s geographic footprint and value-added processing capabilities.”

“Southern Steel will further benefit from Reliance’s long-standing mill relationships and significant investments in capital expenditures to promote further growth as well as back-office efficiencies from Siskin,” Lewis added.

Southern Steel’s president and CEO Neil Cohen expressed the company’s enthusiasm for the new relationship with Siskin and Reliance: “The resources and expertise they bring will allow Southern Steel to better serve our customers by providing access to a wider range of products and capabilities. We’re thankful for the hard work and loyalty of our employees, the backbone of our success in this competitive industry, many of whom have been with us for decades. This acquisition will provide them new opportunities as part of the largest network of service centers in the country. We’re all looking forward to the next phase of Southern Steel’s history.”

Southern Steel’s current management team will remain in place. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

On Reliance’s first-quarter earnings conference call last week, Lewis said that, although the company “did not complete any acquisitions during the first quarter, the pipeline remains healthy. We continue to evaluate a wide variety of prospective opportunities and remain well positioned to pursue those that meet our disciplined criteria for high-quality growth.”

Reliance’s capex budget for 2023 is a record $500 million—$102.9 million of which was spent in the first quarter.

“We expect approximately two-thirds of this budget will be invested in growth projects, up from roughly 50% historically, as we continue to invest in various facility upgrades, efficiencies, and expansion into new markets,” Lewis noted on the call.

By Laura Miller, laura@steelmarketupdate.com

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held a variety of positions within the steel industry since 2007, including reporting and editing for Steel Business Briefing/Platts, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and Kallanish Commodities, as well as marketing for what was then known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (now AM/NS Calvert). After a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel in 2021 and has covered the flat rolled, tubular, and trade areas of the industry. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.

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