Moving Metal

March 27, Reliance also purchased, through its Precision Strip subsidiary, certain assets of Flat Rock Metal Processing, with plants in Perrysburg, Ohio, and Portage, Indiana, bringing the number of Precision’s Strip’s operating facilities up to ten. Then came the big news. On April 3, 2006, Reliance acquired EMJ—and assumed $253 million in debt—for $984 million. Reliance was a $4 billion a year company at the time. EMJ was a $2 billion company. It was Reliance’s largest acquisition yet, and its first purchase of a public company. About half of the price was paid in cash while the other half came from issuing approximately 9 million shares of Reliance common stock. It was the first time that Reliance had used stock to make an acquisition. The deal also brought EMJ’s

Even as it pursued the EMJ acquisition, Reliance contin- ued to invest in promising niche enterprises. In March 2006, Reliance strengthened its overseas presence by forming a joint venture to acquire Everest Metals (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. Everest was a metals service center company located near Shanghai in the People’s Republic of China. It sold primarily aluminum products to the electronics industry and contributed approxi- mately $6 million to Reliance’s 2006 revenues. Subsequently, Reliance bought out its joint venture partner. The entry into China was to support an existing Reliance customer with sig- nificant business in the United States. This continues to be Reliance’s international approach—opening small specialty service centers to support major domestic customers. On

On the floor at Everest Metals (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. Acquisition of this metals service center near Shanghai took Reliance into China for the first time.

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