Smorgon Steel acquires Australian Colour Coaters

Smorgon Steel Group, Australia's largest vertically integrated producer of steel, has announced it will buy the main domestic steel coater - Australian Colour Coaters (ACC), a Sydney-base company that coats about 20,000 tons of imported steel coils. Completion of the acquisition for undisclosed amount is expected to be done on 31 March. Under the new ownership, this business will operate as Smorgon Steel Coil Coasters (SSCC). Smorgon chief executive Ray Horsburgh said that the acquisition of ACC is consisted with Smorgon's strategy of expanding in high value specialty steel products, particularly where synergies exists with the company's current products and markets. Smorgon purchases substation volume of coils every year from Australia's BlueScope Steel. With acquisition of ACC, Smorgon would no longer require the amounts of painted steel it used to buy from BlueScope Steel. In addition, Smorgon reported that the new coating business requires no immediate capital investment and is expected to achieve earnings immediately.