Reports: Sparrows Point Steel Plant Sold to Liquidator

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."