Hybar announces new equity partner; green rebar mill construction slightly ahead of schedule: CEO

Construction at Hybar’s green rebar mill and adjacent facilities in Osceola, Arkansas, is slightly ahead of schedule, the rebar company’s chief executive officer David Stickler told Fastmarkets in an exclusive interview on Wednesday September 11.

Also on Wednesday, Hybar announced that US-based Quanta Services is its newest equity partner.

Hybar broke ground on an energy-efficient scrap metal recycling rebar mill in August 2023 on a site spanning 1,300 acres with adjacent access to rail, barge and truck transportation options.

Stickler said that construction at the Hybar site is progressing slightly ahead of their projected timetable.

“On August 1, [2023,] we broke ground and started our construction, with an estimated 24-month construction period,” he said. “We’ll be starting Hybar up in less than a year, [and] we’ll be producing steel.”

“We’ll stick to what we know best – [we will] buy scrap metal at market, convert it in a highly energy-efficient manner, and then sell our rebar at market. And if we do that, we will be well-positioned in the marketplace and from a profitability perspective,” the CEO added.

Once completed, the facility will have an annual production capacity of 630,000 tons of rebar.

Upon completion, the green rebar mill will be the first of its kind in North America, the CEO said, drastically reducing the amount of energy needed to produce rebar while significantly limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

“We will have the lowest carbon footprint in North America, if not the world,” Stickler said.

Prior to Hybar, Stickler served as CEO of Big River Steel before US Steel acquired it.

New equity partner

US-based specialized contracting company Quanta Services has made a strategic equity investment in Hybar, the rebar company announced on Wednesday.

Quanta Services is a welcome investment addition to the company, Hybar’s CEO said in the interview.

“Quanta is a company that is like-minded, focusing on large infrastructure development projects. For such a large company, they are very entrepreneurial – exactly the type of company that Hybar is,” Stickler said. “Our strategic objectives and operating philosophies are aligned.”

Quanta Services is a contracting services company that delivers infrastructure solutions for the utility, renewable energy, technology, communications, pipeline and energy industries, according to the release. These services include designing, installing, repairing and maintaining energy and communications infrastructure throughout North America and Australia.

Quanta Services joins Hybar’s existing group of equity investors: Koch Minerals & Trading (KM&T); Fort Worth, Texas-based TPG Rise Climate; and Miami-based Global Principal Partners.

The trio of partners pooled together a $700 million investment, of which $470 million was allocated to the construction of the green rebar mill. The remainder of the investment funds would go to start-up and operational costs for the mill, as well as the construction of an adjacent solar power plant and port facility and to pay certain debt service costs during construction, Hybar said in 2023.

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