The takeover of Kloeckner by Worthington Steel lasted two years
Worthington Steel's proposal for a voluntary public takeover of the German steel company Kloeckner & The project has been preparing for at least two years, the chief executive officer of the American steel processing company said in an exclusive interview with Fastmarkets on Friday, January 16.
"We've been reviewing this deal for two years, and Kloeckner has always been number one on the list[of potential acquisition targets]," Jeff Gilmore, president and CEO of Worthington Steel, said on Friday.
The news of the takeover attempt by Worthington Steel, a German manufacturer and distributor of metals, appeared in early December 2025, marking a year of intense mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the steel industry as a whole.
On Thursday evening, January 15, news broke that Worthington Steel had successfully attempted a takeover by entering into a business combination agreement with Kloeckner. & Co., to create the second largest steel mill maintenance company in North America with combined revenue of over $9.5 billion.
Merger of Worthington Steel and Kloeckner companies & Co led to the creation of a distribution giant in North America, taking the place previously occupied by the merger of Ryerson Holding, a company engaged in the processing and distribution of value-added products, and Olympic Steel service center, which resulted in the creation of a $6.5 billion behemoth service center.
Gilmore said he congratulated the executives of Ryerson and Olympic on announcing their major merger, and said he was pleased to provide them with the location of the second largest steel service center in North America for just two months.
"They can no longer claim to be the second largest; now we are the second largest[steel service center]company[in North America], and they are far from the third," Gilmore said.
According to Gilmore, despite the fact that Kloeckner & Co is a German company, with about 75% of its shipments coming from North America, making it an attractive acquisition target.
The Kloeckner Company & With about 110 branches across North America and Europe and a manufacturing base including carbon steel sheets, electrical steel, aluminum, stainless steel, and rolled products, Co was an attractive target for mergers and acquisitions because it is a "highly complementary business." Gilmore told Fastmarkets about "related markets" with the activities of Worthington Steel.
At Kloeckner & Co. has "greater end-market diversification" than Worthington Steel, Gilmore said, noting that the "significant synergies" of the "much larger combined company" will ensure smooth integration of the two companies.
According to Gilmore, the combined company will employ about 12,000 employees in total.
Expected