Severstal has completed its acquisition of Esmark Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of flat rolled and other steel products. The acquisition was completed pursuant to the merger of Severstal Wheeling Acquisition Corp. a wholly owned subsidiary of Severstal, with and into Esmark. Esmark, as the surviving corporation in the merger is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Severstal and has been renamed Severstal Wheeling Holding Co. The offering period for Severstal’s tender offer for all outstanding shares of Esmark expired at 10:00 AM, on 4 August 2008 with a total of 38,767,487 Esmark shares being validly tendered in the offer and not withdrawn, representing approximately 94.17% of the outstanding shares of common stock of Esmark. All shares that were validly tendered during the tender offer have been accepted for purchase and Severstal paid for all validly tendered and delivered shares on 4 August 2008. With the completion of the tender offer and consummation of the merger, Severstal acquired all of Esmark’s businesses including: Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. (to be renamed “Severstal Wheeling Inc.”); Esmark Steel Services Group Inc. (to be renamed “Northern Steel Group Inc.”); and the remaining 50% ownership of the joint venture Mountain State Carbon, a blast furnace coking coal production facility in West Virginia.
