London-based GFG Alliance, an international group of businesses, yesterday (November 3) revealed that its Liberty Steel USA subsidiary will buy US longs maker Keystone Consolidated Industries (KCI) for $320 million, said a report.

KCI and its subsidiaries consist of a 1.1 million mt capacity electric arc furnace operation and diverse lines of high-quality value-added steel, including welded wire reinforcement mesh, agricultural wire fence (RedBrand products), pre-stressed concrete strand, MBQ/SBQ bar and coiled rebar, said an said S&P Global Platts report.

When the deal is completed, expected by the end of the year, the enlarged Liberty Steel USA will have up to 1.8 million mt/year of EAF melting capacity with significant value-added downstream businesses with over 1,300 employees and operations in Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas.

Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of GFG Alliance and Liberty Steel, said that the Keystone acquisition is a core part of GFG's Greensteel vision to become a leading US producer of high quality, cleanly produced steel.