Republic Engineered Products has created a new cold-finished steel bar products division made up of the company's bright bar mills in Gary, Ind.; Hamilton, Ontario; and Massillon, Ohio. The company makes cold-finished carbon and alloy rounds, hexagonals, squares and flats.

The Bolton Metal Products brass rod facility at Bellefonte, Pa., has been closed and its equipment moved to the Chase Brass and Copper facility at Montpelier, Ohio. Chase Brass is owned by Global Brass and Copper, a business created earlier by venture capital company KPS Capital Partners which also operates Olin Metals and Olin Brass mills and the A.J. Oster service center chain.

Pacific Coast Steel, a steel reinforcing bar fabricator based in San Diego, has acquired the assets of Century Steel, a rebar and structural steel contractor headquartered in Las Vegas for $151.5 million. Century operates mostly in Nevada, California, Utah and New Mexico. Despite its name, Pacific Coast (an affiliate of the Gerdau Ameristeel mini-mill company) has facilities in Maine, Massachusetts, Arizona and Nevada, as well as California and Washington.

Heidtman Steel Products of Toledo, Ohio, is adding in-line tension leveling capability and a continuous defect detection system to the pickling line at its Cleveland service center. The firm just completed installation of another coil quality-improvement tension leveling system at its Granite City, Ill. plant.

Steel plate distributor Leeco Steel, a subsidiary of the O'Neal Steel service center chain, will be opening a new processing and distribution center in Hertford County, N.C., late this year to service customers throughout the Southeast.

U.S. Steel will spend $300 million to expand capacity at the Keetac facility of its Minnesota Ore Operations by some 3.6 million additional tons/year. The expansion, which centers on the upgrade and restart of a pellet production line that has been idle since 1980, would bring Keetac's iron pellet production capacity to a total annual output of 9.6 million tons—a 3.6 million ton/year increase from current capacity.

Chicago Tube & Iron is building a new steel fabrication center in Locust, N.C. The North Carolina Power Division is part of Chicago Tube & Iron's Engineered Products Group and makes high pressure components bought by the utility industry.

Boston-based private investment group Wellington Management has taken a 6.25% stake in the Esmark service center company that also owns Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel. Other recent investments in service centers are Olympic Steel, 4.08% by Barclays Global Investors in New York and 8.42% by Dimensional Fund Advisors of Los Angeles, and Reliance Steel and Aluminum, 3.59% by Barclays Global Investors.

O'Neal Steel of Birmingham, Ala., has acquired the assets of Southern Nickel and Titanium of Houston, which is being merged into subsidiary Aerodyne Alloys as a distributor of nickel alloy, titanium alloy and stainless steel sheet and bar products.

Stainless and nickel alloy plate distributor Jacquet Mid Atlantic of Pottstown, Pa., is opening its fourth service center in Irvine, Calif. The company is owned by Jacquet Metals of France.

Warren Fabricating and Machining of Ohio has chosen Blytheville, Ark., as the location for a new $500 million steel foundry, heat treating facility and a fabrication shop. The company specializes in large steel fabrications and heavy machining.

Serviacero Worthington, a 50%-owned joint venture of Worthington Steel of the U.S. and Serviacero Planos of Mexico, plans to open its third Mexican processing location with a slitting, pickling and blanking plant near Monterrey. Serviacero Worthington also has locations in Leon and Queretaro

ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks of Puebla, Mexico, is being merged into TWB, the Monroe, Mich., steel processing firm created by ThyssenKrupp Steel and Worthington Steel. TWB supplies major car manufacturers with tailored blanks from four production sites in the U.S. and Mexico.