Severstal NA Completes Asset Sale, Accelerates Capital Improvements
04/01/2011 - Severstal North America has successfully completed the sale of its Warren, Wheeling, and Sparrows Point, assets to the Renco Group, and has also stepped up completion dates for some of its planned capital improvements at Dearborn and Columbus.
Severstal North America has successfully completed the sale of its Warren, Ohio, Wheeling, W.Va., and Sparrows Point, Md., assets to the Renco Group, Inc.
The sale of these assets is a key component of Severstal North America's strategic refocusing. The company’s refocusing effort centers around development of the company's Dearborn and Columbus facilities, which are considered by the company to be two of the most advanced steel manufacturing and processing sites in North America.
Severstal also announced the company has accelerated completion dates for some of its planned capital improvements, and confirmed that the remainder of the improvements will be finished on schedule.
At its Dearborn plant Severstal's $740-million modernization program features a new cold rolling complex and galvanizing line targeting critically exposed applications for automotive customers and other original equipment manufacturers. The $550-million expansion project at the Columbus plant will increase annual steel production to 3.4 million tons and double the plant's galvanizing capacity.
Upon completion of the capital improvement programs, the facilities’ combined annual steelmaking capacity will reach 6.0 million tons, while cold rolling capacity at Dearborn and Columbus will increase to 3.6 million tons and galvanizing capacity will increase to 2.4 million tons.
"We are very pleased with the results of our restructuring and thank all our current and former employees, customers, and suppliers for their hard work and support during the transition," said Sergei Kuznetsov, CEO of Severstal North America. “North America is one of our key strategic priorities, and we are looking forward to the prospects of growth in the most sophisticated market segments here.
"The investments in Dearborn and Columbus are transformational for our company, as they will enable us to offer superior quality products and service. We are accelerating commissioning schedules wherever we can, and we will continue to update our customers on our progress," added Kuznetsov.
Severstal North America is a subsidiary of OAO Severstal.
