H.I.G. Capital Announces Successful Completion of Evraz Tender Offer for Claymont Steel
MIAMI – January 25, 2008 – H.I.G. Capital, a leading global private equity firm, has announced today that Evraz Group S.A. (LSE: EVR) (“Evraz”) has completed its acquisition of Claymont Steel Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLTE) (“Claymont Steel”) via a short-form merger of Titan Acquisition Sub, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Evraz, with and into Claymont Steel pursuant to the applicable provisions of Delaware law. Evraz paid approximately $565 million for Claymont Steel (including debt).
As a result of the merger, Claymont Steel is now an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Evraz. The merger follows the announcement on January 17, 2008 of the successful closing of the cash tender offer by Titan Acquisition Sub, Inc. to purchase all outstanding shares of common stock of Claymont Steel for $23.50 per share, in which approximately 96.6% of the shares were tendered.
H.I.G. Capital purchased 100% of Claymont Steel in June 2005. In partnership with H.I.G., the company quickly implemented a comprehensive capital improvement program to boost efficiency, reduce outages, and increase annual capacity. In 2006, the company changed its name from CitiSteel USA before going public later that same year. The price paid by Evraz for the tendered shares ($23.50 per share) represents a premium of 38.2% to Claymont Steel’s initial public offering price of $17.00 per share in December 2006.
The acquisition will not only deliver significant value to stockholders, but also will benefit Claymont Steel by becoming part of a company with increased international presence, Jeff Bradley, Claymont’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Claymont Steel achieved significant improvement and experienced tremendous growth during our time as an H.I.G. portfolio company. We couldn’t have asked for better partners. But as that chapter in our company’s history ends, we now turn our full attention to our next assignment as a key contributor to Evraz’s North American operations.”
Matt Sanford, a Managing Director of H.I.G. commented “The Company has made great progress during the last three years and we are very proud of what we have accomplished together with the management team. The transaction with Evraz provides our investors with a very attractive exit while also allowing the organization to extend its leadership position in the plate steel markets in which it participates. We wish all the employees of Claymont Steel continued success in their future endeavors.”
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. Capital, L.L.C. (“H.I.G.”) is a leading global private equity investment firm with more than $4.5 billion of equity capital under management. Based in Miami, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston and San Francisco in the U.S., as well as affiliate offices in London, Hamburg and Paris in Europe, H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies with attractive growth potential. H.I.G. invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of profitable and well-managed manufacturing or service businesses. H.I.G. also has extensive experience with financial restructurings and operational turnarounds. Since its founding, H.I.G. has completed more than 75 transactions. The firm is currently a significant investor in over fifty companies in the U.S. and Europe in a diverse range of industries, with combined annual revenues in excess of $7 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.hig.com.