Key transactions & industry news Weekly Update

Recent M&A Transactions

Metals & Mining

Oct. 23, 2024 – voestalpine has concluded negotiations for the sale of German Group subsidiary Buderus EdelstahlMutares SE & Co. KGaA, a recognized investment company is taking over the company based in Wetzlar, Hessen. The transaction is expected to be concluded by the end of Q4 2024. The expected financial impact of the sale has already been communicated and is included in the earnings forecast for the ongoing FY 2024/25 (EUR 1.4 billion EBITDA). (voestalpine)

Oct. 23, 2024 – Metals X Limited (ASX:MLX) proposed to acquire Greentech Technology International Limited (SEHK:195). A cash consideration valued at HKD 0.28 per share will be paid by Metals X Limited. (MarketScreener)

Oct. 21, 2024 – Insteel Industries Inc. (NYSE: IIIN) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Insteel Wire Products Company has acquired Engineered Wire Products, Inc. (“EWP”) for $70.0 million in an asset transaction. (BusinessWire)

Oct. 18, 2024 – thyssenkrupp sold the Indian company thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel India Private Ltd. to JSW Steel Limited and JFE Steel Corporation. The Indian-Japanese consortium is acquiring the Indian electrical steel business of thyssenkrupp for a purchase price of around 440 million euros. The transaction is expected to be closed within the next few months. (thyssenkrupp)

Transportation & Logistics

Oct. 24, 2024 – Load One, LLC, a leading provider of expedited transportation and logistics services, announced its acquisition of Tri-State Expedited Service, Inc. Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Millbury, OH, Tri-State provides expedited ground transportation and logistics services across North America. This strategic combination with Load One significantly expands the joint North American network. (BusinessWire)

Oct. 23, 2024 – Cold Chain Technologies (“CCT”), a leading global provider of advanced thermal packaging and digital monitoring solutions for the transportation of temperature-sensitive life sciences products, announced it has acquired Tower Cold Chain (“Tower”), a global provider of advanced passive reusable cold chain solutions. (ColdChainTechnologies)

Oct. 20, 2024 – SAS Shipping Agencies Services SÀRL will acquire 56.47% stake in Wilson Sons S.A. (BOVESPA:PORT3) from OW Overseas Limited for BRL 4.4 billion. The proceeds from the transaction will be returned to the the shareholders of OW Overseas by way of a special dividend or share buyback. (MarketScreener)

Building Products & Materials

Oct. 25, 2024 – Shinagawa Refractories Co., Ltd announced that it has purchased all the issued share capital of Gouda Refractories Group B.V., a Netherlands-based leading manufacturer of (high-) alumina refractories and provider of refractory services, from Andus Group B.V. (AlCircle)

Oct. 22, 2024 – Ambuja Cements (ABUJ.NS), India’s second largest cement maker, said it would buy a nearly 47% stake in rival Orient Cement (ORCE.NS) for 37.91 billion rupees ($451 million), but analysts raised doubts about the deal winning regulatory approval. (Reuters)

Oct. 21, 2024 – Ramco Management Private Limited and Rajapalayam Mills Limited (BSE:532503) agreed to acquire an additional 16.23% stake in Ramco Industries Limited (NSEI:RAMCOIND) from The Ramco Cements Limited (NSEI:RAMCOCEM) on October 21, 2024. The expected completion of the transaction is October 28, 2024. (MarketScreener)

Energy

Oct. 22, 2024 – I Squared Capital announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Philippines Coastal Storage & Pipeline Corporation and its affiliate entities. Based in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, and serving the Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC), Philippines Coastal is the largest independent import terminal in the Philippines. With a capacity of 6.3 million barrels, Philippines Coastal houses over 20% of the country’s import storage capacity. (BusinessWire)

Others

Oct. 18, 2024 – Verizon Communications Inc., the biggest wireless carrier in the US, will buy some of US Cellular Corp.’s spectrum licenses for $1 billion as the tower operator sheds parts of its portfolio. (YahooFinance)

Top News Stories

Metals & Mining

Aluminium and copper prices set to rise: Goldman Sachs raises 2025 outlook following China’s demand stimulus. In a significant upward revision, the leading global investment banking, securities, and asset and wealth management firm, Goldman Sachs, has enhanced its 2025 price forecasts for aluminium and copper, driven by increased demand potential in China, the world’s largest consumer of these metals.

Century Aluminum backs Biden’s push for U.S. critical mineral production under the Inflation Reduction Act. Global metals and mining company focused on bauxite, alumina, and aluminium, Century Aluminum, commends the Biden Administration for finalising the guidance on the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit (Section 45X of the Inflation Reduction Act).

Nucor Steel is a third of the way toward completion of sprawling mill in Mason County. A year after ground was broken in the middle of a cornfield between Route 2 and the Ohio River in Mason County a massive industrial complex is taking shape. Nucor Steel officials welcomed U.S. Senator Joe Manchin to the bustling construction site of their new mill . Across the site, which rivals the size of some small towns in West Virginia, massive steel skeletons are rising from the flat river bottom skyward. When complete, the facility will house one of the world’s most state of the art and clean operating steel mills in the world.

Transportation & Logistics

Container ship companies to pay $102M in bridge collapse costs. The two shipping companies involved in the deadly collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge have agreed to settle a lawsuit with the federal government for $102 million. The settlement payment by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Private Ltd., which owned and managed, respectively, the containership Dali, resolves a $103 million damage claim by the U.S. The money will reimburse agencies that responded after the Dali collided with the bridge on March 26. Those agencies include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Coast Guard.

DHL getting 2 Nikola hydrogen trucks, and they aren’t in California. Truck companies and shippers regularly announce the addition of new zero emission vehicles to their fleets, most of them battery-powered. And there are announcements of hydrogen-powered trucks as well, though that has almost exclusively been in California, which has a combination of coming mandates and the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which allows the owners of those hydrogen vehicles to earn LCFS credits that can be sold into an active market for those assets.

Knight-Swift starting to see positive TL rate negotiations. Knight-Swift Transportation said it is seeing normal seasonal demand trends and that it is capturing rate increases in its truckload business. It tempered the update by saying what happens to demand after Thanksgiving is an unknown that will ultimately impact at least the beginning of next year’s bid season.

Energy

EIA: annual US shale gas production may decline for the first time since 2000. US natural gas production from shale and tight formations, which makes up 79% of dry natural gas production in the US, saw a slight decline in the first 9 months of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023. If this trend continues for the remainder of 2024, it would mark the first annual decrease since the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) started collecting these data in 2000.

Others

Americans are feeling better about the economy after the Fed’s jumbo rate cut. Americans’ attitudes toward the economy improved this month thanks to lower interest rates. The University of Michigan’s latest consumer survey showed that sentiment rose in October for the third consecutive month, reaching its highest level since April. Americans’ expectations for inflation rates in the long run also edged lower this month.

About RJM

RJM & Company is a specialized M&A and capital markets advisory investment bank. We provide boards and management teams of public and private companies with independent advice and expertise in a variety of sectors including road, rail and marine transportation, infrastructure, chemicals, energy, metals and mining, manufacturing, building materials, and other coverage areas of the industrial complex. RJM advises clients on all aspects of transactions including timing, structure, and pricing. RJM originates opportunities and helps negotiate and execute transactions already under evaluation.