Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE:RS), Los Angeles, CA, has acquired Houston-based Sunbelt Steel Texas LLC, a distributor of special alloy steel bar and heavy-wall tubing products to the oil and gas industry.

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Sunbelt has an additional location in Lafayette, Louisiana. Sales of Sunbelt for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2011, were $48 million. Sunbelt will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. Current management will remain in place with Michael Kowalski continuing as president of Sunbelt.

Sunbelt was an affiliate of Freestone Partners LLC.

“Sunbelt increases our growing exposure to the energy market in high-end, niche products serving customers across multiple oil and gas well drilling types, including vertical, horizontal, directional, and deepwater drilling applications. Sunbelt’s in-house processing services include deep hole drilling, straightening, and saw cutting with the ability to manufacture heavy-wall tubing from solid bar. We look forward to continuing Sunbelt’s growing presence in their specialty markets,” said David H. Hannah, CEO of Reliance.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. is a metals service center company with a network of more than 220 locations in 38 U.S. states and Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, the U.A.E. and the United Kingdom.