Dofasco Inc. has successfully completed the acquisition of certain assets of Copperweld Holding Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa., through a transaction with Atlas Tube Inc. of Harrow, Ont.

Dofasco purchased the assets related to Copperweld's mechanical tubing and automotive components businesses from Atlas immediately following the acquisition of Copperweld Holding Co. by Atlas.

"We've bought a successful business and we now intend to leverage our combined strengths to expand our product range in the automotive market and to grow in non-automotive niche markets for tubular products", said Don Pether, Dofasco's President and CEO.

Bill Chisholm, President of Dofasco's Tubular Products Division added, "It is tremendous to see the cooperative effort being made by the team of people from both Dofasco and Copperweld. We look forward to the full integration of the Copperweld facilities with Dofasco's existing tubular business."

The transaction was completed effective October 3, 2005 at a purchase price of US$177.8 million. The price is expected to be reduced by post-closing adjustments.

Dofasco is a leading North American steel solutions provider. Product lines include hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Extragal^(TM), Galvalume^(TM) and tinplate flat rolled steels, as well as tubular products, laser-welded blanks and Zyplex^(TM), a proprietary laminate. Dofasco's wide range of steel products is sold to customers in the automotive, construction, energy, manufacturing, pipe and tube, appliance, packaging and steel distribution industries.