Nucor Agrees to Acquire Steel Tubing Maker for $435 Million

   By Tess Stynes

Nucor Corp. (NUE) agreed to acquire Independence Tube Corp. for $435 million in a deal that is expected to widen the steelmaker's offerings to fabrication and service-center customers and strengthen its presence in the nonresidential construction market.

Independence Tube, which makes hollow structural section steel tubing, has four plants in Illinois and Alabama that produce roughly 600,000 tons and employ about 335 people. Nucor said the plants are located in close proximity to its sheet mills in Alabama, Indiana and Kentucky.

Nucor, the country's biggest steelmaker by output, said it also installing a large diameter tube mill at an existing plant in Mississippi, which when combined with Independence Tube's offerings, will create the widest product offering in North America.

Hollow structural section steel tubing is used in a broad range of applications, including nonresidential construction, infrastructure and agricultural and construction equipment.

Last week, the Charlotte, N.C., company projected stronger third-quarter earnings as government tariffs on imports have boosted steel prices, though the growth wasn't as much as analysts had expected. At the time, Nucor also said it continued to see gradual improvement in nonresidental construction markets.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 19, 2016 10:06 ET (14:06 GMT)

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