L.B. Foster Sells Steel Piling Products Business to JD Fields

The Pittsburgh-based rail and infrastructure service provider said that the asset sale would allow it to focus on investment in other parts of the business, namely rail technologies and precast concrete products.

“Our piling products business model was working-capital intensive and presented constraints on our ability to increase profit margins,” L.B. Foster President and CEO John Kasel said. “We are confident that we can redeploy this capital in a way that will achieve better returns and further strengthen businesses in our portfolio that have more robust growth opportunities.”

The opportunity to expand L.B. Foster’s business through rail technologies and precast concrete is “substantial” because those segments have strong growth prospects. The reason: increased demand for environmentally sustainable solutions in transportation and infrastructure, Kasel said.

For JD Fields, a Houston-based steel distributor focused on the energy and civil infrastructure markets, the acquisition increases its scale and market reach, making it an industry leader in steel pipe and piling.

“Our desire is to be as diversified as possible,” JD Fields President and COO Jay Fields told SMU. “This addition doesn’t displace any of our markets or products, it only adds to the breadth of our portfolio.”

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com