FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ESMARK STEEL GROUP CONSOLIDATES U.S. OPERATIONS UNDER ESMARK STEEL GROUP BANNER

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Names Industry Veteran Scott Sternheimer As Vice President of Sales To Lead Company’s Growth Initiatives; Former Esmark Executives Michael Ogrizovich and John Krupinski Rejoin Company As Senior Executives

CHICAGO, September 28, 2010 – Esmark Steel Group, the wholly owned steel services subsidiary of diversified holding company Esmark, Inc., today announced that it is consolidating its U.S. service center operations under the Esmark Steel Group banner to better serve its growing customer base and streamline operations.

Under the operations consolidation Century Steel and Sun Steel in Chicago Heights, Illinois; Chicago Steel & Iron in University Park, Illinois; and Independent Steel in Cleveland, Ohio will operate as Esmark Steel Group. The Illinois operating companies will be called Esmark Steel Group Midwest, while Independent Steel will operate as Esmark Steel Group Northeast.

In making the announcement Thomas Modrowski, Chief Executive Officer of Esmark Steel Group said the consolidation initiative was made for several important reasons. “The Esmark brand has significant equity in the steel business due to our long history and high profile. We believed it was important to focus all our operations on better serving our customers under one brand and one operations team. We think this consolidation will make it easier and more efficient for our growing customer base to do business with us,” he said.

In May of this year Esmark Steel Group acquired the assets of Century Steel and Sun Steel in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and Independent Steel in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2009 Esmark acquired Amtex Steel in University Park and renamed the flat-rolled products company Chicago Steel & Iron.

Esmark Names Scott Sternheimer Vice President of Sales; Former Esmark Executives Michael Ogrizovich and John Krupinski Rejoin Esmark
In a related announcement, Modrowski said that steel industry veteran Scott Sternheimer has been named Vice President of Sales for Esmark Steel Group, effective immediately. Sternheimer joins Esmark Steel Group from Electric Coating Technologies (ECT) in East Chicago, Indiana, where he served as President from 2006 until earlier this year.

In addition, former Esmark executives Michael Ogrizovich and John Krupinski have rejoined the company and will serve on Esmark Steel Group’s senior management team. Ogrizovich and Krupinski previously held senior positions with Northern Steel Group.

In announcing Sternheimer’s appointment, Modrowski said, “Scott has more than 14 years of industry experience and has been highly successful in building and growing businesses throughout his career. His skills and entrepreneurial spirit will be extremely valuable assets as we continue to expand our operations and customer base in the Midwest.”

Sternheimer previously worked for Esmark following the company’s 2003 acquisition of ECT and served as its first Vice President of Commercial. During his tenure ECT grew its business from a small steel processing facility serving the Chicagoland area to one of the largest independent electro-galvanizing lines in North America.

Prior to joining Esmark, Sternheimer founded and operated two steel industry-related companies before the age of 30. From 1999 to 2000 he served as an outside sales executive for steel service center Viking Materials. He began his industry career as a steel buyer for Fullerton Metals in 1996 and later worked in commercial sales for steel processor and distributor Metro Metals.

Sternheimer said his focus at Esmark will be to capitalize on Esmark’s flat-roll integration expertise, product synergies and core Midwest customer base to significantly increase flat-rolled shipments in the coming year. “My goal is to build on our strengths and arm our sales force with the resources to provide our customers with superior products, service and support. We intend to build the premier sales and service organization in the industry and are actively recruiting top-notch industry professionals to achieve this goal.”

Century, Sun and Independent Steel are specialists in flat-rolled steel processing and just-in-time services and serve the automotive, construction, durable goods and light manufacturing industries. Chicago Steel & Iron also specializes in flat-rolled products and has formed a division distributing Special Bar Quality (SBQ) products for the automotive and manufacturing industries. The Esmark operating companies have combined annual steel shipments of approximately 300,000 tons of flat-rolled value-added products and employ approximately 200 people.

About Esmark Steel Group
Esmark Steel Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Esmark, Inc., was formed in November 2009 to identify and pursue strategic acquisitions in the steel service center sector in the Midwest. The formation marked a return to the steel industry since Esmark sold its Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation and network of ten Midwest service centers to OAO Severstal in July of 2008 for $1.23 billion. In addition to its $10 million acquisition of Amtex Steel in November 2009, Esmark also acquired Meadville, Pennsylvania-based Excalibur Machine Company, Inc. for $3.5 million in cash. Excalibur Machine is a precision machining and steel fabrication firm that supplies parts, sub-assemblies and materials handling equipment to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) engaged in the transportation, materials handling, heavy construction and power generation industries. Excalibur is now part of Esmark’s Industrial Group subsidiary. More information about the company can be found at www.esmark.com.

Media and Analyst Contact: Bill Keegan, Director of Communications, Esmark, Inc., 312.927.8424 bill.keegan@esmark.com or bill.keegan07@gmail.com.

 

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