Gerdau Sells Texas Steel Mill, Downstream Operations to OPTIMUS Steel

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Gerdau (NYSE: GGB) (Sao Paulo, Brazil) has completed the sale of three of its U.S. manufacturing units to OPTIMUS Steel LLC , an affiliate of Wire Mesh Corporation (WMC), for $95.5 million. Industrial Info is tracking several improvement projects as a result of this sale. Included in the purchase is Gerdau's steel mill in Beaumont, Texas, and two downstream locations: Beaumont Wire Products and Carrollton Wire Products. The Beaumont steel mill has a melt shop capacity of 700,000 tons per year and is capable of producing both wire rod and coiled rebar. Beaumont Wire includes a wire mesh mill, while the Carrollton site produces industrial wire. According to American Metal Market, "The Beaumont wire mesh mill will enable WMC to offer standard and structural mesh products. Those will complement WMC's pre-stressed concrete strand operation in Texas."

Click on the image at right for a map showing the purchased operations.

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