Cleveland-Cliffs Completes Acquisition of Ferrous Processing and Trading Company

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) announced today that it has successfully completed the acquisition of Ferrous Processing and Trading Company, including certain related entities (“FPT”). The final necessary regulatory clearances in connection with the transaction were obtained on November 17. FPT is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

FPT, which was recently awarded Fastmarkets’ 2021 Scrap Company of the Year, is a leading prime ferrous scrap processor in the United States. FPT currently processes approximately three million tons of scrap per year, approximately half of which is prime grade. Cliffs expects to grow its prime scrap presence through its existing relationships with industrial steel consumers.

Lourenco Goncalves, Chairman, President and CEO, said, “The way the scrap business historically worked has now changed for good. With our closing of the FPT acquisition today, we are now immediately focused on amplifying the value of what we believe is the next precious metal. To drive this, we have already begun the dialogue with our steel customers with a focus on increasing our scrap offtake from them under a real closed-loop proposition. We are starting from a position of strength with the existing business that FPT has in place, and are excited to expand upon this core using the FPT scalable footprint.”

About Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

Cleveland-Cliffs is the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America. Founded in 1847 as a mine operator, Cliffs also is the largest manufacturer of iron ore pellets in North America. The Company is vertically integrated from mined raw materials and direct reduced iron to primary steelmaking and downstream finishing, stamping, tooling, and tubing. The Company serves a diverse range of markets due to its comprehensive offering of flat-rolled steel products and is the largest supplier of steel to the automotive industry in North America. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland-Cliffs employs approximately 25,000 people across its mining, steel and downstream manufacturing operations in the United States and Canada. For more information, visit www.clevelandcliffs.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements other than historical facts, including, without limitation, statements regarding our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry or our businesses, are forward-looking statements. We caution investors that any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and future trends to differ materially from those matters expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Among the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those described in forward-looking statements are the following: continued volatility of steel and iron ore market prices, which directly and indirectly impact the prices of the products that we sell to our customers; uncertainties associated with the highly competitive and cyclical steel industry and our reliance on the demand for steel from the automotive industry, which has been experiencing a trend toward light weighting and supply chain disruptions, such as the microchip shortage, that could result in lower steel volumes being consumed; potential weaknesses and uncertainties in global economic conditions, excess global steelmaking capacity, oversupply of iron ore, prevalence of steel imports and reduced market demand, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; supply chain disruptions or changes in the cost or quality of energy sources or critical raw materials and supplies, including iron ore, industrial gases, graphite electrodes, scrap, chrome, zinc, coke and coal; our ability to successfully diversify our product mix and add new customers; and our ability to realize the anticipated synergies and benefits of the FPT acquisition and to successfully integrate the business of FPT into our existing businesses. We undertake no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For additional factors affecting our business, refer to Part I – Item 1A. Risk Factors of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and our other filings with the SEC.