Nucor has signed off on an asset purchase agreement to buy Precoat Metals’ Armorel coating line facility in Blytheville, Arkansas.
The aluminum, stainless, and carbon steel coil coating plant has the capacity to process about 250,000nt (226,796mt) per year and is located near Nucor’s sheet mill in Arkansas.
The steelmaker had initially mulled over constructing a greenfield coating line of its own before opting for the acquisition. A spokesperson for Nucor Steel Arkansas said the decision to buy the coating line instead of building a new site is intended to boost the company’s entry in the painted material market as it will utilize existing capacity and an experienced workforce.
The acquisition will add value to its consumers as the company converts into a direct supplier of painted sheet material, also simplifying the procurement process, the steelmaker indicated.
Nucor’s Arkansas plant has a yearly production capacity of about 2.65mn nt of hot-rolled sheet steel and provides for the auto, construction, appliance, pipe and tube, and several other industries since it opened in 1992.
The company’s Arkansas facility recently finished building a new specialty cold mill and is currently constructing a new, high-strength steel galvanizing line that will have a capacity of around 500,000nt per year, set to begin operations in 2021.