Nucor Acquires Majority Ownership of California Steel Industries

News provided by

Dec 13, 2021, 07:30 ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) announced today that it has reached agreements to acquire a majority ownership position in California Steel Industries, Inc. (CSI) by purchasing a 50% equity interest from a subsidiary of Vale S.A. (Vale) and a 1% equity ownership stake from JFE Steel Corporation (JFE). The company will be a joint venture between Nucor and JFE, pending regulatory approvals. Nucor will pay a cash purchase price to Vale of $400 million for the 50% enterprise value, adjusted for net debt and working capital at closing, which approximates less than 6.0x historical average EBITDA.

"Acquiring a majority ownership stake in California Steel Industries expands our geographic reach in sheet steel and gives us a strong presence on the West Coast," said Leon Topalian, President & Chief Executive Officer of Nucor Corporation. "This acquisition will grow our portfolio of value-added sheet products, provide opportunities for increased internal shipments and enable us to provide our downstream businesses in the region such as Verco and Hannibal Industries with sheet steel products. We look forward to continuing to grow with our partners at JFE."

CSI is a flat-rolled steel converter with the capability to produce more than two million tons of finished steel and steel products annually. The company has five product lines, including hot rolled, pickled and oiled, cold rolled, galvanized and ERW pipe. Key end-use segments served by CSI include customers in the construction, service center and energy industries. CSI employs more than 800 full-time and temporary employees.

When the acquisition is completed, it will be Nucor's second joint venture with JFE. Since 2020, the two companies have been operating an automotive steel joint venture in Mexico. The facility in Mexico has the capacity to produce 400,000 tons of galvanized steel for the automotive industry per year.

About Nucor
Nucor and its affiliates are manufacturers of steel and steel products, with operating facilities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Products produced include: carbon and alloy steel -- in bars, beams, sheet and plate; hollow structural section tubing; electrical conduit; steel racking; steel piling; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; precision castings; steel fasteners; metal building systems; insulated metal panels; steel grating; and wire and wire mesh. Nucor, through The David J. Joseph Company, also brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron and hot briquetted iron / direct reduced iron; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap. Nucor is North America's largest recycler.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this news release are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate," "believe," "expect," "intend," "project," "may," "will," "should," "could" and similar expressions are intended to identify those forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's best judgment based on current information, and, although we base these statements on circumstances that we believe to be reasonable when made, there can be no assurance that future events will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking information. As such, the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may vary materially from the projected results and expectations discussed in this news release. Factors that might cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (1) competitive pressure on sales and pricing, including pressure from imports and substitute materials; (2) U.S. and foreign trade policies affecting steel imports or exports; (3) the sensitivity of the results of our operations to prevailing market steel prices and changes in the supply and cost of raw materials, including pig iron, iron ore and scrap steel; (4) the availability and cost of electricity and natural gas, which could negatively affect our cost of steel production or result in a delay or cancellation of existing or future drilling within our natural gas drilling programs; (5) critical equipment failures and business interruptions; (6) market demand for steel products, which, in the case of many of our products, is driven by the level of nonresidential construction activity in the United States; (7) impairment in the recorded value of inventory, equity investments, fixed assets, goodwill or other long-lived assets; (8) uncertainties surrounding the global economy, including excess world capacity for steel production; (9) fluctuations in currency conversion rates; (10) significant changes in laws or government regulations affecting environmental compliance, including legislation and regulations that result in greater regulation of greenhouse gas emissions that could increase our energy costs, capital expenditures and operating costs or cause one or more of our permits to be revoked or make it more difficult to obtain permit modifications; (11) the cyclical nature of the steel industry; (12) capital investments and their impact on our performance; (13) our safety performance; and (14) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and any variants of the virus. These and other factors are discussed in Nucor's regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of Nucor's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release speak only as of this date, and Nucor does not assume any obligation to update them, except as may be required by applicable law.

SOURCE Nucor Corporation