Infrabuild raises funds for GFG acquisitions

Australian electric arc furnace (EAF)-based producer Infrabuild has raised $350mn in asset-backed financing, which will enable it to buy US assets from its parent company GFG Alliance.

Infrabuild is looking to buy the EAF-based longs producer Keystone Consolidated Industries, Johnstown Wire Technologies and Georgetown steelworks.

GFG acquired the Infrabuild assets when it bought Australian steelmaker Arrium in 2017, renaming the assets Liberty OneSteel, before changing the name to Infrabuild in August 2019. A number of GFG executives, including Sanjeev Gupta, are on the board of Infrabuild. Gupta owns the US assets that Infrabuild is looking to buy "to create a vertically integrated EAF long steel producer with leading market positions in Australia and the US".

Jefferies acted as sole arranger of the term loan, which was led by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and Silver Point Finance. BlackRock was part of GFG's initial acquisition of the US assets in 2019. Infrabuild continues to explore additional financing to drive its growth and the potential acquisition of its sister assets, which have been independently valued.

By Colin Richardson