Nucor's takeover of Birmingham Steel

Nucor's takeover of Birmingham Steel

The US steelmaker and recycler Nucor has overcome bureaucracy in the takeover of Birmingham Steel and have received the necessary approval from the Anti-Trust Division of the Department of Justice in order to complete the acquisition of 45 years old US steel making group's substantially all the assets. The group who had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June, will now become a subsidiary of Nucor Corp. The acquisition was initiated in May 2002 by Nucor's signing of a definitive agreement to take over all assets of Birmingham Steel against $615 million in cash. It is planned to pay the Birmingham Steel shareholders aproximately $15 million in total and to use the balance to pay the company's debt of $630 million. The deal covers Birmingham Steel's mini mills at Birmingham-Alabama, Kanakee-Illinois, Seattle-Washington, and Jackson-Missisipi. The total capacity of these four minimills is estimated to be 2 million tons per year. Furthermore the assets of corporate office in Birmingham-Alabama, the mill in memphis-Tenesse which is currenlty not operation, the assest of Port Everglades Steel Corporation, Klean Steel Division and Birmingham Steel's ownership in Richmond Recycling Limited are also included in the acquisition as well as the $ 120 million worth inventory and receivables.