Finance and Economic

Novolipetsk Steel (NLMKq.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the Russian steel maker owned by billionaire Vladimir Lisin, has agreed to pay $400 million in cash to acquire U.S. hot-rolled steel maker Beta Steel and expand its presence in North America.

Novolipetsk, Russia’s fourth-largest steel maker by volume, said on Thursday it would buy the Portage, Indiana-based company from a group of private shareholders to provide feed for another recent U.S. acquisition, steel pipe maker John Maneely Co.

“Novolipetsk is trying its best to make its U.S. acquisitions vertically integrated and therefore less exposed to rising raw material input prices,” UniCredit Aton metals analyst Marat Gabitov said. “It will increase profitability.”

Steel makers in Russia, the world’s fourth-largest producer, have acquired around 10 percent of U.S. steel-making capacity in the last few years as they spend billions of dollars from record profits betting on steel demand in North America.

The latest deal takes Novolipetsk’s spending on U.S paydayloans. assets to nearly $4 billion in the last month, after the $3.5 billion deal to acquire John Maneely Co announced on August 13. Beta Steel will supply hot-rolled steel for John Maneely’s pipe mills.

“This acquisition is fully in line with our commitment to develop a strong footprint in the U.S. high value-added finished steel market,” Novolipetsk Steel’s president and chief executive, Alexei Lapshin, said.

The deal, which Novolipetsk will finance from existing funds and available credit lines, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2008.

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