Mr. John Reid reports

RUSSEL METALS TO SELL ITS 50% EQUITY INTEREST IN TRIMARK TO MARUBENI-ITOCHU

Russel Metals Inc. has entered into an agreement with Marubeni-Itochu Tubulars America Inc. (MITI), whereby Russel Metals will sell its 50-per-cent equity interest in TriMark Tubulars Ltd. for approximately $61-million, subject to normal course closing adjustments. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023.

TriMark was created in July, 2021, when Russel Metals and MITI combined their respective Canadian OCTG/line pipe businesses. At that time, Russel Metals had approximately $141-million of net assets in its Canadian OCTG/line pipe business. With the formation of Trimark, Russel converted approximately $109-million into cash and retained a $32-million equity interest in TriMark. In the past two years, Russel Metals has received $36-million in dividends from TriMark, which when combined with the sale of the retained equity interest to MITI for $61-million will equate to a return on investment of over 200 per cent.

John Reid, president and chief executive officer of Russel Metals, commented: "This transaction represents the final step to our staged exit from the OCTG/line pipe business. Over the past three years, we have repatriated approximately $375-million of capital from the OCTG/line pipe business and have reinvested in our core segments at superior returns with lower risk. Additionally, we have retained significant financial flexibility to opportunistically grow our company and return capital to our shareholders."

About Russel Metals Inc.

Russel Metals is one of the largest metals distribution companies in North America with a growing focus on value-added processing. It carries on business in three segments: metals service centres, energy field stores and steel distributors. Its network of metals service centres carries an extensive line of metal products in a wide range of sizes, shapes and specifications, including carbon hot rolled and cold finished steel, pipe and tubular products, stainless steel, aluminum, and other non-ferrous specialty metals. Its energy field stores carry a specialized product line focused on the needs of energy industry customers. Its steel distributors operations act as master distributors selling steel in large volumes to other steel service centres and large equipment manufacturers mainly on an as-is basis.

We seek Safe Harbor.