Merger sprint in steel likely to slow to a jog in ’08 execs

Dec 18, 2007 | 02:31 PM |

Steel industry consolidation is expected to continue in 2008, although the pace could slow as the number of attractive assets falls and countries such as China continue to protect their domestic industries, top steel executives told AMM.

"I don't think consolidation has run its course, but it's getting pretty close," Keith Busse, chairman and chief executive officer of Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI), Fort Wayne, Ind., said. "In the integrated sector, there are just not that many assets out there."

Speaking during a roundtable discussion on the prospects for the steel industry in 2008, Busse noted that a suitor could still emerge for AK Steel Corp., West Chester, Ohio, and said it was uncertain that WCI Steel Inc., Warren, Ohio, would survive as an independent entity. "On the mini-mill side, you have a lot of product overlap. . . . But again, most of the assets that were available have been picked up," he said.....