Gerdau Acquires Quanex US Steel Business

Brazil’s Gerdau has signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition of the MACSTEEL business of Quanex Corporation for $1.458bn cash, plus the assumption of debt and certain liabilities. The acquirer says it will pay with existing cash. The transaction is part of Gerdau’s global growth strategy in the long specialty steel market, which mainly serves the auto industry. MACSTEEL, the steel mill operation of Quanex, is the second largest long specialty steel producer in North America, with an annual production capacity of 1.2m metric tons of steel and 1.1m metric tons of rolled products, according to Gerdau. “This is one more step for Gerdau as an agent of the consolidation of the global steel industry, and also in the specialty steel sector which has the automotive industry as its main consumer,” says Gerdau president and CEO, André Gerdau Johannpeter. After the acquisition, Gerdau claims it will be the second largest producer of long specialty steel in the world.