AK Steel ownermakes $1.4B buy
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. acquires ArcelorMittal in blockbuster deal.
The owner of ButlerCounty’s third-largest private employer has made another billion-dollar blockbuster deal.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has agreed to buy theU.S. assets of ArcelorMittal for $1.4 billion, six months after it purchasedAKSteel Corp for $1.1 billion. AK Steel has 2,421 employees and trails Cincinnati Financial Corporation and GE Aviation in West Chester as the largestprivate employers in the county.
The deal, announced Monday morning, includes more than 25 facilities, mines, steelmaking facilities, and other operations. ArcelorMittal, the largest steel manufacturer in North andSouthAmerica, employs more than 18,000 people in America, according to the company.
The deal will make Cleveland-Cliffs the largest flatrolled steel producer in North America, Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman Lourenco Goncalves saidMondayduring a conference call.
Monday marked the first day in “a great chapter” in the company’s history, he said. The company was founded in 1847.
AKSteel started operations in 1901 in Middletown and always has been amajor contributor to the community. Thecompany opened its $36 million AK Steel Research and Innovation Center off Interstate 75 in 2017, 10 years after the headquarterswere moved out of Middletownto West Chester.
There are soccer fields and a band shelter named after AK Steel in Middletown and the company is a major supporter of Light Up Middletown, a holiday lights display; and employees serve on numerous boards and employees volunteer on countless projects.
RickPearce, a lifetime Middletown resident and president of theChamberofCommerce serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton, said AK Steel and its predecessor companies have always “played an important role” in Butler County.
“It’s toodifficult toaccount for the ancillary businesses and the jobs that were created that have serviced the mill, not tomention themanufacturing facilities thatwere attracted to the area because of the close proximity to steel.” he said. “AK has definitely had a positive impact on the development of Butler County.”
Whenasked if he has seen any change in community involvement since AK Steel was purchased by Cleveland-Cliffs inMarch, Pearce it’s hard to gauge because COVID-19 has impacted all community involvement.
Aditya Mittal, president of ArcelorMittal, said the deal presents “a unique opportunity” to create a competitive and resilient company with considerable synergy potential.
“Steelmaking is a business where production volume, operational diversification, dilution of fixed costs, and technical expertise matter above all else,” Goncalves said in a statement. “This transaction achieves all of these.”