Majestic Solidifying Supply Chain with Two New Deals, Eyes More

Quicken Steel, a steel building and components manufacturer based in Claxton, Ga., and Mercury Transport, a logistics company headquartered in Pittsburg, Calif., are the two latest companies to join the Majestic fold.

The acquisition of Quicken Steel will create new downstream opportunities for Majestic in the manufacturing and construction sectors.

“It’s a direct downstream play to the products that we already handle,” Majestic President and CEO Todd Leebow told SMU in an interview. “We believe that coated steel is the future of metal building and construction, so we see this as an opportunity to further our interest in that space.”

Quicken is a young company, having only been in operation for five years now, Leebow said.

“We see a unique opportunity in terms of how they’re differentiated, how they built the business — that attracted us,” he noted.

Majestic has been ambitiously expanding over the past couple of years. Last August, the company announced it would build a new service center, processing facility, and master distribution site on the campus of Nucor Steel Arkansas in Blytheville, Ark. Construction is progressing and the company expects to be serving customers out of the new location by 2023. Also last August, Majestic purchased West Coast service center Merit Steel to expand its presence in the region. And in late 2020, it completed the acquisition of Las Vegas-based steel service center and processor P&S Metals and Supply.

The most recent purchase of Mercury Transport, an integrated logistics provider with local market expertise, shows Majestic’s commitment to its West Coast customers, the company said.

Leebow noted that Quicken Steel and Mercury Transport will continue to operate independently from Majestic.

“I don’t want to blur the lines in terms of what Majestic Steel currently does,” he said. “We see these acquisitions as an opportunity to diversify and to further differentiate from the market as a whole.”

Will Majestic continue its aggressive expansion across the US from its roots in the Midwest? “The answer is: We’re always looking. We’re always in the market. It’s just got to be the right fit, the right time, and the right value. We’re always opportunistic when it comes to growth opportunities,” Leebow said.

In February of this year, Leebow was featured as the speaker on one of SMU’s Community Chats. At that time, he was optimistic about demand, saying it was very strong. Five months later, he remains optimistic despite the uncertainty in the marketplace.

“There’s more uncertainty today about demand compared to where we were back then. But I also think you have to think about buying activity differently from demand,” he said. “A lot of our customers still have backlogs and strong order books. I think that their buying activity … has slowed because they don’t want to have inventory. … But demand is still relatively healthy.”

By Laura Miller, Laura@SteelMarketUpdate.com