Mumbai: Essar Steel Holdings has acquired Nasdaq-listed steel maker Esmark for an enterprise value of $1.1 billion (Rs 4,456.10 crore), thereby setting up a beachhead in Ohio, the steel capital of the US.

Essar will pay $17 per Esmark share. With the acquisition, the Essar group will have approximately 7 million tonnes of steel-making capacity in the US and Canada put together.

Madhu S Vuppuluri, president, Essar Americas, said the group plans to make significant investments into Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel to make it a low-cost, technologically advanced steel producer.

The Essar group in the  past one year has been systematically adding capacities in the developed North American markets.

Essar has preferred a low-key approach to adding capacities in the developed markets. Instead of making one bulge-bracket acquisition, the company has been acquiring companies with smaller capacities in the range of one to two million tonne annual capacity.

It acquired Ontario, Canada-based Algoma Steel last year, and followed this up with the acquisition of Minnesota Steel.

Shashi Ruia, chairman of Essar group, said, “The acquisition is another step towards realising our global steel vision of having world-class low cost assets, with a global footprint.”

The acquisitions, along with implementation in Trinidad & Tobago will see Essar Steel Holdings having a capacity of 10 million tonnes of flat steel production in the Americas in the next couple of years.

Source : DNAIndia