Nucor to Acquire Manufacturer of Steel Utility Structures

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Jun 07, 2022, 09:00 ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Summit Utility Structures LLC and related company, Sovereign Steel Manufacturing LLC, producers of metal poles and other steel structures for utility infrastructure and highway signage. These companies will become part of a new business unit, Nucor Towers & Structures, serving the utility, transportation and telecommunication sectors. While the acquired companies are ideally suited to service the markets in the Northeast part of the U.S., Nucor's plan is to establish a nationwide footprint able to service all customers throughout North America.

"These acquisitions continue to position Nucor as the leader in steel and downstream steel products as part of our strategy to Grow the Core, Expand Beyond and Live Our Culture. These businesses fit well into the Expand Beyond part of our strategy to acquire companies who have a direct connection to our industry, offer significant growth opportunities and enhance Nucor's position as the leading manufacturing company in the metals industry," said Leon Topalian, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nucor Corporation. "We intend to grow these businesses to become the preferred solutions provider for utility transmission towers, substations, telecommunication towers and highway signage structures."

The market for utility infrastructure has been historically stable and is expected to enter a phase of accelerated growth due to the replacement of aging infrastructure, growth and migration of population, a focus on increasing electric grid reliability, and an increased penetration of renewable energy and energy storage. Additionally, the transition to 5G and the increased consumption of wireless data support strong market trends for telecommunication towers. The highway signage market is also continuing to see strength and is expected to benefit as departments of transportation begin to implement the recently signed federal infrastructure bill.

"These acquisitions create a new growth platform for our company to provide engineered solutions for utility infrastructure and construction projects. The markets for transmission and telecommunication towers are forecast to experience strong growth for decades," said Chad Utermark, Executive Vice President of New Markets and Innovation. "The creation of Nucor Towers & Structures strongly complements our plate capabilities while also adding a new dimension to our arsenal of value-added downstream products such as joists and deck, hollow structural section tubes, metal buildings, insulated metal panels, racking systems, piling and foundation solutions, and shortly, overhead doors."

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 which we expect will or may occur in the future and may impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. 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, inflation and interest rate changes; (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, 2021. 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