OmniSource Acquires Surath Assets

OmniSource Corp., Fort Wayne, Inc., purchased the assets and accounts of L. Surath & Sons, a Bay City, Mich., scrap recycling company.

According to local press reports OmniSource plans to dissolve Surath & Sons and move the equipment and scrap metal to OmniSource’s Bay City site.

About half of the dozen workers employed by Surath will be transferred, including Bill McCoy, Surath's former president, according to Arnold F. Williams, general manager for OmniSource in Bay City.

The 12-acre plot where Surath & Sons operated for the past two decades is up for sale, according to Bernard Surath, chairman of the board for his family's company.

"OmniSource is a very fine company and very well-financed. They'll do a good job servicing our customers," said Surath, who plans to retire.

The deal comes exactly six months after OmniSource purchased the former H. Hirschfield Sons Co. scrap yard, which had operated in Bay City for more than 110 years.

"This fits within our expansion strategy," said Ben A. Eisbart, executive vice president of administration for OmniSource. "More importantly, the fact is that the Surath company has done good business and has a good reputation over the years."

Eisbart said the purchase will increase OmniSource Bay City's annual processing of ferrous metals by about 24 million pounds and nonferrous metals by about 750,000 pounds.