Spanish steelmaker Acerinox has agreed to buy US nickel and cobalt alloy specialist Haynes in a $798 million deal, it said in a stock market filing Feb. 5, with the takeover expected to take place in the third quarter of 2024.
With the deal, Acerinox will expand its presence in the US market, where it already operates a major stainless steel producer North America Stainless, and grow its global presence in high-performance alloys, the company said in the filing.
The financial operation, agreed by Haynes’ board, will be ratified at the company’s shareholder meeting in April, Acerinox said. The purchase will be fully funded with existing cash on Acerinox’s balance sheet, it added.
The US market has been Acerinox’s best-performing region recently, outperforming its other steel sites in Spain, South Africa and Malaysia. Its combined melt shop capacity worldwide is 4.5 million mt/year.
The company said in a presentation Feb. 5 that it will invest $200 million in the US over the next four years, including a new vacuum induction melting furnace, a new forge and additional finishing lines, all at Haynes’ production sites.
Indiana-based Haynes has three manufacturing plants in the eastern US at Kokomo (Indiana), Arcadia (Louisiana), and Mountain Home (North Carolina). These plants make alloys for use in high-temperature and corrosion applications such as aerospace and energy sector applications.
The US investment follows an announcement Acerinox made in January that it plans to invest Eur67 million in a new atomizer for the production of stainless steel and high-performance-alloy powders for use in additive manufacturing at its VDM subsidiary.
Acerinox acquired German-based high-performance alloy group VDM in 2020 at Eur532 million ($572 million).
VDM operates five production centers in Germany, with around 75,000 mt/year melt shop output as well as two centers in the US.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the Global Daily Dealer Molybdenum Oxide assessment at $19.375/lb Mo Feb. 2, up from $19.175/lb Mo Feb. 1.
Author Gianluca Baratti, support@platts.com
