Steel manufacturer, SSAB, has agreed to acquire Abraservice Holding – a provider of wear parts and complete solutions in quenched and tempered steels (Q&T).

Abraservice is currently part of the French-owned Jacquet Metal Service Group. Abraservice had net sales of around 800 million SEK (€75.9 million) in 2018.

The acquisition supports SSAB’s strategic target of global leadership in Q&T and advanced high-strength steels as well as providing leading value-added services.

Subject to approval of the relevant regulatory authorities, the transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2019.

“The Abraservice network is well aligned with SSAB Services strategy of providing products and services to machine builders and the aftermarket business,” said SSAB Services Head, Gregoire Parenty.

“The acquisition will help us to further improve our direct relationship with customers and end-users, as well as address new market segments.

The workforce of Abraservice has recognised experience and the skills of local management and employees will combine with SSAB in an excellent way,” he said.

The acquisition of Abraservice provides SSAB with the unique opportunity to extend the Q&T offering further in the industrial value chain allowing our customers and end-users, including our brand program members, to rely on additional services, parts and complementary products. It will increase SSAB’s shipments through the profitable service channel, where demand is more stable over the business cycle compared to shipments to OEMs.

Abraservice has approximately 200 employees, working at 10 processing centres and 12 sales offices across 11 European countries. The largest processing centres are in France, Germany and Italy.

Abraservice will continue to operate as an independent unit within SSAB Services, as part of SSAB Special Steels, and remain under its own name. The company will benefit from SSAB support and expertise, extended product range and global geographical coverage to expand its strong market position in distribution and fabrication of parts in Europe and beyond.

SSAB Services is a business unit within SSAB Special Steels. The unit develops the Hardox Wearparts network and facilitates the use of high-strength steels by further promoting the SSAB Shape concept. Hardox Wearparts is a network of companies for the products of wear parts and just-in-time repair services to end-users in the local aftermarket in the mining, quarrying, recycling and construction sectors. The network is represented across more than 90 countries and comprises over 500 companies, 16 of which SSAB has an ownership interest in.

Earlier this year, a SSAB subsidiary acquired a Danish steel business.