WEST VIRGINIA Weirton Steel board picks buyout offer from ISG

ISG says its offer for Weirton Steel had more cash value.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Weirton Steel has made its choice, but a federal judge still must decide whether International Steel Group's buyout offer is the best one for the bankrupt company and its creditors.
ISG President Rodney Mott says he's "cautiously optimistic" the U.S. Bankruptcy Court will approve the sale after a hearing in Wheeling next week, setting the Cleveland-based company up to become the nation's largest steelmaker.
"The cash is there, and we are anxious to close," Mott said Thursday.
Weirton's board of directors accepted ISG's offer after hours of deliberations, but the company would not reveal details of either that bid or the one it rejected.
ISG initially offered $255 million for Weirton, the nation's No. 2 producer of tin, then found itself challenged by a group of creditors who countered with $261 million. A closed-door auction was held in Pittsburgh earlier this week, but all parties involved have refused to say where the final bids stood.
A better value?
Mott, however, persuaded Weirton's board that his bid was a better value for the company, the creditors and the Independent Steelworkers Union than what the Informal Committee of Senior Secured Noteholders was offering.
"Even though numerically the bids were very much apart, if you look at it in dollar value -- actual cash value -- ours was very much superior," he said.
ISU President Mark Glyptis said the board vote ends nearly a year of speculation and stress for his 3,000 members.
Because of the complexity of the bids, Weirton's board decided to reveal the details in court, chief executive D. Leonard Wise said.
"We look forward to Tuesday's hearing, which will add another successful chapter to Ohio Valley's steelmaking story," he said.
ISG became the No. 2 player in the integrated steelmaking business, behind Pittsburgh's U.S. Steel, in less than two years by buying the remnants of other down-and-out companies.
Weirton sought Chapter 11 protection last May after losing money for five years, and since then, its workers have come to believe they must join the ongoing consolidation of the U.S. steel industry to compete.