Comsteel

Comsteel is an Australian manufacturer of steel products based in the Newcastle suburb of Waratah. It is a subsidiary of American Industrial Partners.

Comsteel
FormerlyCommonwealth Steel Company
Vickers Commonwealth Steel Products
Commonwealth Steel Products
IndustrySteel
Founded1918
FounderClyde Engineering
Goninan & Co
Pioneer Spring Co
Ritchie Brothers
Headquarters
Newcastle, New South Wales
,
Australia
ParentAmerican Industrial Partners
Websitewww.comsteel.com

History

Comsteel was founded as Commonwealth Steel Products in 1918 by Clyde Engineering, Goninan & Co, Pioneer Spring Co and Ritchie Brothers to manufacture wheels, tyres, axles and steel castings for railway use.[1]

A plant was established in the Newcastle suburb of Waratah with Howard Smith acquiring a shareholding. After Vickers acquired a shareholding, in 1923 it was renamed Vickers Commonwealth Steel Products. In the 1930s, BHP gradually bought out the other shareholders and it became the Commonwealth Steel Company.[1] In 1959, a mill was opened in Unanderra for the cold rolling of stainless steel.[2][3] In 1971, Comsteel was licenced by Midland-Ross to produce couplers, draft gears and freight wagon bogies.[4]

In 1983, Commonwealth Steel Company and the Australian subsidiary of Vickers merged to form Comsteel with BHP and Vickers each holding 38% shareholdings.[2] In 1985 Comsteel was purchased by Australian National Industries (ANI).[5]

It was included in the 1999 takeover of ANI by Smorgon Steel which in turn was purchased by OneSteel in 2007.[6] Since 2016 it has been owned by American Industrial Partners.[7][8][9]

References
  1. Commonwealth Steel Products Ltd Newcastle Industrial Heritage Association
  2. Australians in Company BHP 1985
  3. Comsteel Unanderra Illawarra Heritage Trail
  4. US licencing deal International Railway Journal October 1971 page 10
  5. Engineering giants sell joint venture Canberra Times 24 December 1985 page 11
  6. Smorgon Steel now Set to Acquire 100% of ANI Smorgon Steel 29 January 1999
  7. Arrium's MolyCop sold for $1.6 billion SBS World News 4 November 2016
  8. American Industrial Partners completes the acquisition of Molycop American Industrial Partners
  9. Who we are MolyCop 3 January 2017
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.