RG Steel has successfully completed the purchase of Sparrows Point and two other steel mills from Severstal North America and will become their new owner at 12:01 a.m. tonight (Thursday), sources tell The Brew.

Formal announcement of the sale of Sparrows Point, Severstal Warren and Severstal Wheeling is expected tomorrow. Contacted by this website tonight, Severstal spokesperson Yekaterina Pruett confirmed that the sale was imminent.

“Our target is to complete the sale this month, however, whether it will happen tonight or tomorrow, I can’t confirm at this point. We will send out an announcement once it’s completed,” she said in an e-mail.

James Shea, a spokesman for Renco Group, owner of RG Steel, said, “The Renco Group is limiting comment at this time as it continues to focus on closing the transaction.”

Severstal management has informed Sparrows Point employees that RG Steel plans to reopen the “L” blast furnace and return the Baltimore County facility to full production by May. Severstal idled production last July. Currently about 600 workers are on layoff and another 250 were recalled to their jobs last week.

The United Steelworkers (USW) entered into a tentative contract with RG Steel in January. But the 6,000 unionized employees at the mills have not yet seen the contract.

The contract has become controversial because of the concessionary terms negotiated by USW district director David McCall, which this website first disclosed (here and here).

As a result, employees at the mills will work under the current Severstal contract, sources say, until the new contract is voted on by membership.