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North America's the hot spot for steel: merger activity and greenfield growth in North America, spurred by both domestic and foreign steel companies, demonstrates the renewed attractiveness of the NAFTA countries for investors.

Article Excerpt
AT JUNE'S Steel Success Strategies XXII, delegates and speakers discovered a wondrous new continent--North America.

While China remains at the forefront of all worldwide steel discussions, the renewed interest in North America, and in particular the United States, was one of the key themes of the two-day conference sponsored by World Steel Dynamics and American Metal Market.

One panel of North American executives was titled "Age of the Americas." But more indicative of the continent's renewed place on the steel landscape was the list of speakers earlier in the day.

The morning presentation was delivered by Prashant Ruia, managing director of Indian steelmaker Essar Steel, which in the span of three days in April agreed to acquire Canada's Algoma Steel and Minnesota Steel, along with its 1.4 billion tons of iron ore. Ruia declined to answer questions about his company's reported interest in another Canadian steelmaker, Stelco.

Following Ruia's remarks, a panel of global steel company executives took to the podium for a discussion on international steel. Of those five executives--Georgy Eliseev of Russia's Evraz Group, Karl-Ulrich Kohler of ThyssenKrupp Steel, Antonio Marcegaglia of Italy's Marcegaglia, Alexei A. Mordashov of OAO Severstal, and Regulo Salinas of Mexico's Termium Hylsa--only one did not have a significant and growing presence in North America.

"We believe the United States has a lot of advantages," said Evraz's Eliseev, whose company entered the U.S. market with its purchase of Oregon Steel Mills. "It is a good, growing market."

Even Marcegaglia, the lone representative of a company without North American ambitions, recognized the appeal of the NAFTA countries. "The main reason [North America is appealing] is market sophistication; it is relatively protected and it is more dynamic than other economies in general."

Such thoughts were echoed later in the afternoon by a panel of heavyweights from the domestic steel industry: Jim Bouchard of Esmark and Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp., Keith Busse of Steel Dynamics Inc., Dan DiMicco of Nucor Corp., Vadim...

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