Big River Steel receives 'Deal of the Year' award

Big River Steel (BRS), Osceola, Arkansas, has received the 2014 Deal of the Year Award in the Mining and Metals category for the $1.3 billion financing package it received for its new scrap-consuming electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mill. IJGlobal business intelligence service recognized the financing deal, which it said is the largest industrial investment in Arkansas history.

During a ceremony held in March 2015 in New York City, the BRS facility also was recognized as the first flex mill to be developed in the United States. Flex mills are designed to have the capabilities of a traditional integrated steel mill with the flexibility of a minimill.

BRS’ executive management staff was supported by Global Principal Partners (GPP) in closing on the financing necessary to build, start up and operate the facility. In addition to GPP, equity sponsors that helped finance BRS include the Arkansas Teachers Retirement System and a consortium of other investors.

German equipment company SMS-Siemag is supplying BRS with a package of melting, casting, rolling and finishing technology as well as plantwide automation. Delivery of the equipment to the Big River Steel site in northeast Arkansas is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2015.

KfW IPEX-Bank, with support from German export credit agency Euler Hermes, provided the majority of BRS’s term debt, in addition to a 20-year loan provided by Arkansas Development Finance Authority. The Bank of Arkansas arranged the working capital financing for BRS.

Dave Stickler, a senior managing director at GPP and chief administrative officer for BRS, says, “On behalf of Big River Steel, it is a great honor to accept the Deal of the Year award. It is an even greater honor to be a part of an enterprise that will bring high-quality industrial jobs and economic growth to Arkansas and provide innovation to the American steel industry.”

BRS says it expects to start operations in early 2016. The mill’s products will include high-strength, lightweight steel used in the automotive and other industries; wide and thick steels used in a variety of industrial applications and in the pipe and tube industry; and electrical steels used in applications where electrical energy is produced, transmitted and consumed.