October 23, 2007, Associated Press, By TIM HUBER CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The parent company of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel announced Tuesday it has changed the time frame for shareholders to choose how they want to be compensated in the impending merger with Illinois-based Esmark Inc. The changes were made to satisfy the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wheeling-Pitt Chief Executive James Bouchard said. Without the changes, the SEC might have required the company to treat the deal as an offer to purchase Wheeling-Pitt shares, rather than a merger. That would have required Wheeling-Pitt to file a different SEC form, in essence starting the process...

Four years ago, the Bouchard brothers bought an insignificant steel company which might soon be one of the 500 biggest companies in the US September 13, 2007, Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Munich, Germany), By Paul-Anton Krüger James P. Bouchard, 46, and his brother Craig T., who is seven years older, make no secret of who their role model and mentor is. On the Internet site of their company Esmark there is a fax from the magazine Midwest Industry, October 1963 edition. Their father, Robert C. Bouchard, is pictured smiling on the front page. At Inland Steel, which has now been swallowed up in the...

September 05, 2007, Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) - The U.S. Justice Department has approved the sale of the Sparrows Point steel mill near Baltimore to a global investment group led by domestic steel distributor Esmark Inc., the company said Wednesday. The $1.35 billion (euro990 million) transaction, which is meant to resolve antitrust issues, still requires approval by a court-appointed trustee. Esmark said when the deal was announced Aug. 2 that it expected to complete it by Oct. 31. The Justice Department insisted in February that Netherlands-based Mittal Steel Company NV sell Sparrows Point to preserve competition in the market for tin-plated steel in...

August 3, 2007, Baltimore Sun, By Allison Connolly and Lorraine Mirabella As a fifth-grader, James P. Bouchard went on a tour of the Inland Steel mill with his father, an executive at the Chicago plant, and from then on knew what he wanted to do with his life. “My father was my hero and my idol,” Bouchard, 45, said yesterday. “I did my first science report on the Inland Steel company.” His brother, Craig T. Bouchard, 53, watched as their father, Robert C. Bouchard, became one of only three Inland employees to rise from mailroom clerk to executive. His father was quoted in a...

June 20, 2007, Post-Tribune (Gary, Ind.), BY DANIELLE BRAFF NEW YORK -- American steel makers speaking Tuesday during the 22nd annual Steel Success Strategies convention stressed the importance of restraint and discipline when attempting to make a profit during fluctuating market demand. At a time when supplies are likely to exceed demand throughout the summer, the steel mills have to work to remain sustainable, and they need to adjust their production rates so the price of steel doesn't drop, said Lou Schorsch, CEO of Flat Carbon Americas for Arcelor Mittal and former CEO of Mittal Steel. Schorsch said there were a number...

March 16 2007, Platts Commodity News US steel distributor Esmark has reached a definitive merger agreement with steelmaker Wheeling-Pittsburgh and renegotiated the latter’s debt terms in preparation for forming a public steelmaking and distribution company, executives of both companies said in a conference call Friday afternoon. The new company would be known as Esmark Inc. and would seek to raise $200 million in equity by listing its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Under terms of the agreement, existing shareholders of Wheeling-Pittsburgh would exchange their shares for those of the new company in a deal that would value the shares at around...

February 02, 2007, Associated Press, By VICKI SMITH MINGO JUNCTION, Ohio (AP) - Four decades ago, the new chief executive officer of Wheeling Pittsburgh Corp. was a rookie in the world of steel, learning there were two ways to manage people. John Goodwin's first supervisor at U.S. Steel Corp. subscribed to a "rule by fear" strategy. The second boss promised the secret to survival: "Don't do anything, and you won't do anything wrong." Then along came Jack Walter, the man who would become a lifelong mentor. "People are going to be your strength," he told the young Goodwin. Goodwin is 63 now, and he never...

January 8, 2007, Forbes.com, By Emily Lambert Four years ago Esmark didn’t exist. Now it’s out to transform the U.S. steel industry. On the face of it, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp.’s shareholders meeting on Nov. 17 seemed a polite affair. You’d hardly know that an audacious, hostile grab for control of the steel company was taking place behind the scenes. Outside Wheeling Park’s White Palace Ballroom in Wheeling, W.Va., Craig Bouchard, president of the little-known, closely held Esmark of Chicago, was frantically calling large investors, pulling off a long-shot coup. His competitor, a Brazilian steelmaker seven times Esmark’s size, had the support of Wheeling-Pittsburgh....

December 21, 2006, American Metal Market, By Scott Robertson PITTSBURGH -- The installation of new leadership at Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp., Wheeling, W.Va., has resulted in one longtime executive staying with the company in a new role and another seeing his position terminated. According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Harry L. Page, who was president and chief operating officer of Wheeling-Pittsburgh under its former management team, has agreed to stay on as vice president of engineering at Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp., the chief operating subsidiary of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp. Page headed operations under the old management team that lost out in...

December 4, 2006, The Wall Street Journal James Bouchard of Esmark Inc. was elected chairman and chief executive officer of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp., and brother Craig Bouchard was named president and vice chairman. The Bouchards will retain their positions with Esmark, where Craig, 53 years old, is president, and James, 45, is CEO. On Nov. 17, shareholders voted to oust Wheeling-Pitt’s sitting board of directors, supporting a hostile takeover by the closely held Chicago Heights, Ill., steel distributor. The final vote was 6.1 million to 2.8 million, a majority that Esmark called an overwhelming victory. Wheeling-Pitt shares fell 45 cents, or 2.6%, to $17.13 Friday...