Economy
Australia's InfraBuild Looks to Buy Long Steel Assets in the US
June 2, 2023
Australian steelmaker InfraBuild said it could be on the hunt for steel plants in the US after closing on a $350-million asset-backed term loan.
The loan, managed by BlackRock and Silver Point Finance, will allow InfraBuild to pursue growth objectives, which include the “potential acquisition of steel assets in the United States currently owned by GFG Alliance,” the company said in a statement on May 29. GFG Alliance is InfraBulid’s parent company.
InfraBuild said possible targets include Keystone Consolidated Industries (KCI), which operates an EAF, rolling mill, and wire mill in Peoria, Ill. KCI also has wire mesh manufacturing sites in Ohio and New Mexico. Other targets are Johnstown Wire Technologies, with locations in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and Georgetown, a long steel mill in South Carolina.
InfraBuild said in a release in November 2022 that it could potentially buy businesses from GFG Alliance to create a vertically integrated EAF long steel producer with leading market positions in Australia and the US.
The company said it was Australia’s largest processor and distributor of steel long products, including reinforcing bar, reinforcing mesh, tubular and hollow sections, as well as merchant bar and wire products. It owns and operates recycling centers in Poland, the US, and Hong Kong. It also has scrap metal traders in India, South Africa, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK, as well as a manufacturing facility in Dalian, China, according to its website.
By Ethan Bernard, ethan@steelmarketupdate.com
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