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Russian company buying OR steelmaker to become world's 10th largest
Edited for brevity.Evraz Group, a steelmaker partly owned by billionaire Roman Abramovich, agreed to buy Oregon Steel Mills Inc. for $2.3 billion, the biggest-ever purchase in the U.S. by a Russian company. Evraz bid $63.25 a share in cash for all of Portland-based Oregon to gain a foothold in the U.S. and create the world's largest producer of rail tracks and wheels, the companies said today in a joint statement. The transaction will raise Evraz, Russia's biggest steelmaker, to 10th in the world, ahead of Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG. Russian steel producers and peers in India and Brazil, encouraged by rising stock values, want to boost crude- steel processing in North America and Europe to make higher- value products such as oil and gas pipes. The takeover would increase the muscle of steelmakers from outside developed countries. Emerging economies now account for six out of the 10 biggest steelmaking nations. China alone makes almost a third of the world's steel. Mittal Steel Co., the world's largest producer, started with an Indonesian steel plant. Arcelor SA proposed merging with OAO Severstal, Evraz's Russian rival, before agreeing to be bought by Mittal this year in the industry's biggest-ever combination. Posted by: Dar 2006-11-20 |
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