Benzinga | Sep 17, 2021 04:40PM EDT

Olympic Steel Announces Sale Of Detroit Assets, Operations For $58.4M In Cash

Olympic Steel, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZEUS), a leading national metals service center, today announced the sale of substantially all of the Company's Detroit assets and operations to Venture Steel Inc. The sale price, which exceeded the book value of the net assets sold, was $58.4 million in cash, subject to a future working capital adjustment, which is expected to increase the final sale price.

"We remain focused on our long-term strategy to further diversify our business, deliver consistent profitability and enhance shareholder value. The proceeds from the sale of the Detroit operations will be used to reduce debt, generating greater flexibility to pursue additional acquisitions and investments in organic growth initiatives and automation," said Richard T. Marabito, Chief Executive Officer.

Marabito concluded, "Our Detroit operation primarily focused on processing and distributing flat-rolled metal to domestic automotive manufacturers and their suppliers. We believe redeploying the capital from this business to higher value-added opportunities in all three of our business segments, including our growing automotive business in the southeastern United States, accelerates our drive to deliver consistently higher returns for our shareholders."