WEIRTON STEEL Company addresses changes

Weirton Steel wants to be able to move quickly if it finds an acquisition target.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Weirton Steel Corp. began a massive push Wednesday to educate workers and other shareholders about proposed bylaw changes that would downsize the board of directors and set the stage for the company to buy a struggling or bankrupt competitor.
The changes, which will be discussed in dozens of community and mill meetings beginning today, would come in two stages, President and CEO John Walker said. The board's composition would change immediately if 80 percent of the shareholders approve, but some additional revisions would occur only after a "transformative event."
Such an event requires three things: Weirton Steel would buy another company or its assets; a new collective bargaining agreement for at least three years would be reached; and an outside investor would buy a majority of the stock.
Walker said the changes would encourage outside investment in the West Virginia company, strengthening its ability to buy a bankrupt competitor or its equipment.
He declined to identify specific targets, but dozens of U.S. companies are what he described as "distressed," including nearby and bankrupt Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp.
"We have nothing in the works now, but this gives us the opportunity to very quickly -- when the opportunity arises -- be seen as a credible buyer," Walker said.
That's because the size of some acquisitions would take an infusion of cash from an outside investor, and such investments aren't attractive if they don't come with some equivalent level of control, he said.