PITTSBURGH (AP) — A company well known in the Ohio Valley has bought the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh steel plant in Yorkville, Ohio, out of bankruptcy and plans a restart in January.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (http://bit.ly/SQ0uFR) says Esmark completed the $6.3 million transaction Thursday. It includes 50 percent interest in Ohio Coatings Co.
CEO James Bouchard says he’ll hire 160 workers who will be covered by a four-year United Steelworkers contract.
The plant was owned by now-bankrupt RG Steel.
RG formed last year when Wheeling-Pitt’s former operations were combined with Bethlehem Steel’s former Sparrows Point mill in Baltimore, and the former WCI Steel plant in Warren, Ohio.
Esmark took control of Wheeling-Pitt assets after a 2006 proxy fight but sold them two years later to Russia’s OAO Severstal.
Severstal then sold the mills to RG.
