Reports: Sparrows Point Steel Plant Sold to Liquidator
The RG Steel Sparrows Point facility was sold to Hilco Industrial for $72 million.
RG Steel's Sparrows Point plant was sold at auction on Tuesday to an industrial liquidator for $72 million.
Hilco Industrial was the successful bidder after no steel producers showed up at the auction, according to a Baltimore Sun report.
Local steelworkrs union President Joe Rosel told the Sun that "the sale did not go as planned or as expected."
RG Steel filed for bankruptcy protection in May, and was given time to find a prospcetive buyer for the plant before the assets would be sold at auction.
The auction, held Tuesday in New York, was originally scheduled for July 31 and the company was given an additional week to find a so-called "stalking horse" bidder that would kick off the auction bidding.
After such a bidder was not found, the auction proceeded Tuesday.
RG's mill in Warren, Ohio, was sold to C.J. Betters Enterprises, which redevelops industrial sites, for $17 million, according to a Reuters report.
Company head Chuck Betters told Reuters that he hopes to find an operator for the mill after he evaluates the plant's cost base and needed upgrades.
RG Steel paid $1.2 billion for three plants (Sparrows Point, Warren, and Wheeling, W.V.) it bought from Russian steel company Severstal last year.
The total price paid for the three plants is about $125.2 million, according to a report in Baltimore Brew, a fraction of the $434 million owed to "senior" creditors.
A federal bankruptcy court judge still has to approve the sales. A hearing will be held Aug. 15 in Wilmington, Delaware, according to Baltimore Brew.
Union President Rosel told the Sun that he has not given up and he will "fight to find an operator for this plant."
Marge Neal
5:32 pm on Wednesday, August 8, 2012
What do you think this means for the future of steelmaking at Sparrows Point plant? Will steel be made again at the plant?
Jay Fitzgerald
8:17 am on Thursday, August 9, 2012
Sadly it's inappropriate for residential development and industry is done. NASCAR track and hotels on a bay setting would be a winner.
Steve
5:54 pm on Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Nope. Stick a fork in it. It's done. The previous owners spent very little on maintenance and it is pretty much a dinosaur as compared to the mills down South. The equipment that can be salvaged will be sold and the rest scrapped.
Eastsider
7:08 pm on Wednesday, August 8, 2012
I with Steve on this one. Sell off what they can scrap the rest, clean up and cap the contaminated areas and extend the port. Maybe the cancer rate will drop in the area if it stays shut down.
Steve
7:22 pm on Wednesday, August 8, 2012
They have to do a little more than just cap it. The nastyness is leaching from under the landfill into the water. The landfill is unlined.
Matthew
6:26 am on Thursday, August 9, 2012
Sadly, it is time for this area to move on. This once-great engine has done little for an area that needs something there. We've continued to lie to ourselves and act like the present (or recent) economic benefit was worth the environmental disaster that accompanied it.
I feel for those who have lost jobs here; I won't pretend to know exactly how they feel. But the sooner they start preparing themselves for something else and exploring options elsewhere, the better off they will be. Even if it were to stay open, we'd be playing the same game in a period of years, if not months.
DARRELL HAMMERBACKER
9:02 pm on Thursday, August 9, 2012
After the Russians gutted it and pawned it off on RG what did you expect ! This Plant bit the dust when even Maryland bought Japan Steel for the Key Bridge because the Point wouldn't budge on it's price.It will take years to clean up that property.Level it and let the liquid Gas Company come in.It's just a damn shame the Government let this happened.
Steve
12:07 am on Friday, August 10, 2012
The Russians didn't gut it. ISG gutted it.....and there isn't any Japanese steel in the Key Bridge.
Matthew
7:00 am on Friday, August 10, 2012
Darrell, the LNG option brings a big fat nothing as far as sustained jobs. We need something there that will bring well-paying, blue and white-collar jobs for several thousand people.
Michelle Kidwell
8:00 am on Friday, August 10, 2012
Give me a NASCAR track. Plenty of room for 1 or 2 big hotels to get a fantastic bay view for guests. Not to mention jobs for the area. Lord wouldn't Casino go nice there also.
charles E.Miller
7:07 pm on Friday, August 10, 2012
I can not believe the goverment state ot federal did not help in some way to keep this mill alive.You say about new jobs will there be 2500 to 3000 for the ones that were loss Ironmaster
John T.
4:47 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012
All of the help in the world is not gonna keep SP open and profitable. Besides, why should our tax dollars go to a company operating in the private sector that has shown steady decline for the last 30 years or more. Let's wait and see how much of our federal tax dollars we're gonna get back from the auto industry before we do that again. GM still owes billions to the taxpayers. In fact, the Federal Government lent them more of our tax dollars than the company was worth on paper. Why not bailout every business that is failing and not just the ones that are union companies that support the these politicians?