GE Commercial Finance has structured and arranged $440 million in senior financing to support the construction of SeverCorr LLC, a 1.5 million tons/year state-of-the-art steel mill in Lowndes County, Miss.

SeverCorr — the newly-formed partnership between John Correnti’s SteelCorr and Severstal Group —will manage the construction and ongoing operation of the new mill. The mill, which will produce hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated steel products, will serve the southern United States steel market. Nearly 450 people will be employed when the production facilities are fully operational.

"The team at GE Commercial Finance played an important role making this a reality," said Correnti, who will serve as President and CEO of SeverCorr. "GE's industry knowledge and complex structuring capabilities differentiated their approach and provided SeverCorr a strong financial foundation upon which to build our new mill."

The SeverCorr management team will be led by Correnti and other experienced industry executives, recognized for their ability to engineer, construct and manage cutting-edge steel operations. Severstal, a major global steel producer with operations in Russia, Europe and the United States, has a majority equity stake in the project.

"This is an exciting situation for GE Commercial Finance and SeverCorr," said Craig Reynolds, Senior Managing Director with GE's Industry Financing Group. "The passion and experience SteelCorr and Severstal brought to the table, combined with our financing expertise in the steel industry, allowed us to create a financial structure that met both the short- and long-term objectives of the new organization."

Commercial & Industrial Finance (CIF), a unit of GE Commercial Finance, is a premier global provider of structured financing solutions to the commercial and industrial marketplace. CIF provides innovative financing solutions for a broad array of customer needs including recapitalization, equipment leasing, and growth capital. With over $9 billion in served assets, Commercial & Industrial Finance has the expertise and funding capability to deliver exceptional financing solutions. GE Commercial Finance, which offers businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services, has assets of more than US$230 billion and is headquartered in Stamford, Conn..