London-based Liberty House Group announced today it has completed the acquisition of ArcelorMittal’s Georgetown, South Carolina wire rod mill, with plans to restart operations in the spring. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, and according to local news, no documents had been filed with Georgetown County’s register of deeds as of Monday morning.
Liberty House spokesman Eoghan Mortell told local media that the acquisition price was a “significant rather than a nominal sum.”
Sanjeev Gupta, founder of Liberty House, said in a statement that the company will hire 125 workers to start operations, with eventual plans to expand the workforce to 250 people. Under an agreement with the United Steelworkers union, Liberty House will fill key roles on the furnace, casters and rolling mill with experienced former Georgetown employees.
“We’ve already had customers contacting us about placing orders, so we’re keen to get back up and running as quickly as possible,” Gupta said in a statement.
The mill has an annual production capacity of 680,000 tons of wire rod, and Gupta said demand for wire rod is expected to “grow substantially” in the coming year due to continued expansions in the construction and automotive manufacturing industries.
The acquisition is Liberty House’s first facility in the US, but the company said it expects to announce further US acquisitions in 2018. “Securing the Georgetown furnace and mill is a major milestone for us ... the melting and rolling facilities here give us a formidable entry to the American market and provide a strong platform for expansion,” Gupta said.
ArcelorMittal acquired the facility in 2004 and shuttered it in August 2015.