Comsteel Explained

Comsteel
Former Name:Commonwealth Steel Company
Vickers Commonwealth Steel Products
Commonwealth Steel Products
Foundation:1918
Founder:Clyde Engineering
Goninan & Co
Pioneer Spring Co
Ritchie Brothers
Location City:Newcastle, New South Wales
Location Country:Australia
Industry:Steel
Parent:American Industrial Partners
Homepage:www.comsteel.com

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

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 licensed 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]

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20200412205244/http://www.niha.org.au/staticpages/index.php/20110830004756300 Commonwealth Steel Products Ltd
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20200412205922/https://www.bhp.com/-/media/documents/ourapproach/ourhistory/150813_ourhistory_australiansincompanybhpsonehundredthyear.pdf Australians in Company
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20190308221400/https://www.illawarra-heritage-trail.com.au/comsteel-unanderra/ Comsteel Unanderra
  4. US licensing deal International Railway Journal October 1971 page 10
  5. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118181214 Engineering giants sell joint venture
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20200419102642/https://www.asx.com.au/asx/statistics/displayAnnouncement.do?display=text&issuerId=73&announcementId=584262&documentDate=1999-01-29&documentNumber=176693 Smorgon Steel now Set to Acquire 100% of ANI
  7. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/arrium-s-molycop-sold-for-1-6-billion Arrium's MolyCop sold for $1.6 billion
  8. https://americanindustrial.com/2017/01/03/american-industrial-partners-completes-the-acquisition-of-moly-cop/ American Industrial Partners completes the acquisition of Molycop
  9. https://molycop.com/who-we-are/ Who we are