The Russian mining and steel producer Evraz Group has announced the closing of a deal to acquire 100 percent of the shares of Cassar World Investments Corp., which controls 99.9 percent of Inprom, a leading Russian metal service company, thus making its steel distribution network the largest in CIS.
Accordingly, following the acquisition Evraz has created a joint venture (JV) consisting of EvrazMetall and Inprom, which in 2010 is expected to have total steel sales amounting to about 1.2 million mt. Evraz will have a 75 percent stake in the JV, with Inprom holding 25 percent.
EvrazMetall, a network of metal trading companies (formerly Carbofer Metall, acquired by Evraz in October 2009), consists of 33 branches in Russia and the CIS countries (Kazakhstan).
Inprom has a chain of 27 metal service centers, located in the industrially developed regions of Russia, and distributes products of Russian and CIS steel mills to 20,000 customers across all sectors of the economy. Inprom is the largest service company in Russia for metal processing services. In 2010, its sales are expected to exceed 400,000 mt, with Evraz's products accounting for one third of those sales.
"As a result of the deal, Evraz will expand its presence in the steel retail trade in Russia, and in particular in the European part and the dynamically developing southern region. It is also expected that it will see an increase in profitability from high margin steel product sales," reads Evraz's statement.