Deadline Passes for Hamilton Specialty Bar Purchase

HAMILTON, ON, March 26, 2018 /CNW/ - Today's deadline for a bid to purchase Hamilton Specialty Bar (HSB) has passed with no going-concern offer presented to the court overseeing the steel plant's receivership proceedings.

"There is an investment group that has been working diligently to put together a viable going-concern offer for the plant, but they could not finalize their proposal by today," said Tony DePaulo, Assistant to the Ontario Director of the United Steelworkers (USW), which represents more than 200 HSB employees.

Earlier this month a Superior Court judge approved a motion from the court-appointed receiver that called for HSB to be sold to a company that planned to liquidate the plant's assets.

However, the judge said he would entertain a "going-concern bid" ? a purchase offer based on the continued operation of HSB as a manufacturing facility ? if such a proposal was presented to the court by today.

"There is still hope that the group interested in operating HSB as a steel plant can reach an agreement with the liquidation company to buy the mill before the assets are lost," DePaulo said.

"But it is extremely disappointing for the situation to have come to this point, for our members, our pensioners and the community."

HSB is an electric-arc mill that melts its own steel and manufactures products such as ingots and round bars, mostly for the automotive industry.

SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)