Central Steel & Wire agrees to be acquired by Ryerson Holding Corp.

Ryerson Holding Corp. (Ryerson) announced that it has entered an agreement via a subsidiary to acquire Central Steel & Wire Company (CSW), a metal service center with six locations across the Central and Eastern U.S.

A press release said that the deal, valued at $140 million, will see CSW continue to operate under its current brand name following the closing of the transaction. CSW has some 900 employees, and annual revenues of approximately $600 million. In addition to wire, it provides bar, coil, plate, sheet and tubing.

Ryerson, a value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, has operations in the U.S, Canada, Mexico and China, the release said. Founded in 1842, it has 3,700 employees in approximately 100 locations.

Ryerson President and CEO Eddie Lehner said that the deal serves both of the companies and their customers. โ€œWe are excited to elevate the best of Central Steel & Wire while leveraging Ryersonโ€™s intelligently networked service centers to infuse (our collective customers) with a broader and deeper array of products with comprehensive processing capabilities.โ€

CSW President and CEO Steve Fuhrman said the deal bolsters both companies. โ€œThe leverage this merger creates will benefit our diverse customer base, grow our respected supplier relationships, and provide opportunity for further development of our loyal employees.โ€

At its website, CSW notes that the companyโ€™s customers range from Fortune 50 companies to large OEMs to small, independent fabricators, โ€œall of whom enjoy access to a selection of prime ferrous and nonferrous metal products that is second to none.โ€

The company was founded in Chicago in 1907, at which time it had seven employees. Locations were added over the years, and by the end of the 1970s CSW facilities totaled 1,865,000 sq ft. In 1997, a branch facility was opened on Greensboro, North Carolina. In 2001, it opened Central Coil Processing, and by its 100th anniversary in 2009, the company had 1,100 employees in six facilities, and was listed as one of the top 20 metals distributors by sales. In 2013, it formed Central Steel Fabricators, a division of CSW, to provide value-added processing.

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