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    Distributors/Service Centers

    January 8, 2025

    SPS Companies and State Steel combine service center businesses

    Written by Ethan Bernard

    Steel fabricators and distributors SPS Companies and State Steel will merge their service center businesses under the SPS Companies family of firms.

    Sioux City, Iowa-based State Steel will continue as an independent business unit. David Bernstein will remain president, and the current senior management will retain its positions and responsibilities.

    “SPS has a corporate structure that will allow the State business model to continue to grow and thrive well into the future,” Bernstein said in a statement on Tuesday.

    Seamless transition

    “Our customers will see a seamless transition with their same sales contacts and the same commitment to quality products and services they have grown to trust with State,” Bernstein added.

    State and Manhattan, Kan.-based SPS jointly acquired the job shop operations of steel fabricator Kooima Co., based in Rock Valley, Iowa, in 2019.

    “Through the collaboration with SPS on Kooima, it became apparent that SPS is a highly logical fit as both companies are private and share very similar cultures,” Bernstein noted.

    The scrap concern Sioux City Compressed Steel and Kooima ownership held by the Bernstein family will not be part of the transaction.

    Further terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    Crocker thanks Bernstein family

    “We are grateful that the Bernstein family considered SPS a worthy partner to continue the legacy of the business they have dedicated so much time building,” Matt Crocker, CEO of SPS, said in the statement.

    SPS has steel distribution and fabrication operations in 11 US states and Monterrey, Mexico.

    State Steel has steel distribution and fabrication facilities in six cities in the upper Midwest.

    Ethan Bernard

    Ethan Bernard is managing editor for Steel Market Update. He previously worked for American Metal Market as a copy editor in the New York office for two years, starting in 2008. Later, he copy edited AMM’s monthly magazine on a freelance basis from 2015 until 2017. With experience in financial copywriting and textbook publishing, he holds a BA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University. He can be reached at ethan@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7871.

    Read more from Ethan Bernard

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