29.12.2005

Harsco buys Brambles mill services

Harsco, the access and industrial services group that owns SGB has announced today it has completed the acquisition of the Northern Hemisphere steel mill services operations of Brambles Industrial Services from Brambles Industries Limited of Australia.

The Company paid £133 million plus a working capital adjustment for the business, and is proceeding with the appropriate regulatory filings. The acquisition, made on a cash free/debt free basis.

Operating under long-term contracts at some 19 locations in the U.K., France, Holland and the U.S.A, the operations add to the breadth and scope of Harsco’s Mill Services segment, expanding its provision of on-site, outsourced services to the steel and metals industries to approximately 180 sites in 32 countries.

The operations provide a complementary range of mill services that includes metal recovery, slag processing, and material handling, and specialty operations that include the briquetting of waste materials for recycling into the steelmaking process.

The operations employ around 1,500 people with revenues in fiscal 2005 of approximately $195 million the revenues and earnings of the acquired business are expected to transfer fully to Harsco’s 2006 results.