Titanium industry undergoes massive changes into 2013

Dec 31, 2012 | 07:00 PM | Frank Haflich

Tags  titanimum makret, Precision Casparts Corp., PCC, Timet, Titanium Metals Corp., 2013 outlook, Frank Haflich

Does the largest takeover in titanium industry history mean the days of the major independent producer are numbered? With the $2.9-billion acquisition of Dallas-based Titanium Metals Corp. (Timet), the industry’s largest producer, by Precision Castparts Corp. (PCC), that question might already have been answered.

The acquisition marked the biggest step so far in a consolidation trend that’s transforming what once was an industry of individual titanium mills into what essentially are the first stages of production in aerospace supply chains that have been built under the umbrella of individual parent companies.

It brings to PCC titanium production that in
the third quarter amounted to about 11.6 million pounds of melted and mill products, or some 47 percent of the 24.6 million pounds of titanium reported sold by the three major domestic producers, which includes Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) and RTI International Metals Inc., both based in Pittsburgh.

Portland, Ore.-based PCC was already Timet’s single-largest customer, accounting for 16 percent of the producer’s 2011 sales and surpassing even Chicago-based aerospace giant Boeing Co., although many of PCC’s products end up on Boeing aircraft, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. PCC’s largest customer for the fiscal year ended April 1 was engine builder General Electric Co., according to PCC’s SEC filing.....