Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., Los Angeles, CA, has agreed to acquire steel service center Earle M. Jorgensen Company, Lynwood, CA, for $934 million including assumption of $291 million in net debt. The price is a premium of 25% over EMJ's share price as of Jan. 17, 2006. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2006. After completing the acquisition, Reliance expects annual revenues of more than $5 billion.

The acquisition is Reliance's largest acquisition to date and its first acquisition of a public company. It adds 39 facilities in the U.S. and Canada. Since its initial public offering in 1994, Reliance has acquired more than 30 businesses.

EMJ is a distributor of metal products, including more than 25,000 different bar, tubing and plate, and specializes in cold finished carbon and alloy bars, mechanical tubing, stainless bars and shapes, aluminum bars, shapes and tubes, and hot-rolled carbon and alloy bars.

Reliance is a metals service center with more than 100 locations in 31 states, Belgium and South Korea. Reliance provides metals processing services and distributes a full line of more than 90,000 metal products including galvanized, hot-rolled and cold-finished steel; stainless steel; aluminum; brass; copper; titanium and alloy steel sold to more than 95,000 customers in various industries.