Hybar CEO David Stickler on the decision to build a second rebar mill in Osceola: interview

Fastmarkets

Jul 08

To better understand factors that shaped a decision to double capacity for rebar production even before the first mill on the site had achieved a 100% operational rate, Fastmarkets spoke with David ...

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One of the best stock trading platforms in Singapore.","ogImage":"https://c1.itigergrowtha.com/portal5/static/media/og-logo.0a0bd8dc.png","ogUrl":"https://www.etasphere.com/news/2649617529"},"companyName":"Tiger Brokers"},"pageData":{"isMobile":false,"isTiger":false,"isTTM":true,"region":"SGP","license":"TBSG","edition":"fundamental"},"isCrawlerRequest":true,"__swrFallback__":{"@#url:\"https://stock-news.skytigris.cn/v3/news\",params:#id:\"2649617529\",edition:\"fundamental\",auth_exemption:1,,,undefined,":{"share":"https://ttm.financial/m/news/2649617529?lang=en_US&edition=fundamental","thumbnail":"","is_english":true,"pubTime":"2026-07-08 12:00","share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/e9f99090a1c2ed51c021029395664489","id":"2649617529","market":"hk","top_or_hot":-1,"title":"Hybar CEO David Stickler on the decision to build a second rebar mill in Osceola: interview","media":"Fastmarkets","content":"<div>\n<p>To better understand factors that shaped a decision to double capacity for rebar production even before the first mill on the site had achieved a 100% operational rate, Fastmarkets spoke with David ...</p>\n\n<a href=\"https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/hybar-ceo-david-stickler-on-the-decision-to-build-a-second-rebar-mill-in-osceola-interview/\">Source Link</a>\n\n</div>\n","source":"fastmarkets_highlight","html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; 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overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 11px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;line-height: 11px;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nHybar CEO David Stickler on the decision to build a second rebar mill in Osceola: interview\n</h2>\n\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n\n\n2026-07-08 12:00 GMT+8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/hybar-ceo-david-stickler-on-the-decision-to-build-a-second-rebar-mill-in-osceola-interview/><strong>Fastmarkets</strong></a>\n\n\n</h4>\n\n</header>\n<article>\n<div>\n<p>To better understand factors that shaped a decision to double capacity for rebar production even before the first mill on the site had achieved a 100% operational rate, Fastmarkets spoke with David ...</p>\n\n<a href=\"https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/hybar-ceo-david-stickler-on-the-decision-to-build-a-second-rebar-mill-in-osceola-interview/\">Source Link</a>\n\n</div>\n\n\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","isBrief":false,"type":0,"news_type":1,"symbol":"EAF","symbol_name":"Graftech International Ltd.","start_time":0,"source_url":"https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/hybar-ceo-david-stickler-on-the-decision-to-build-a-second-rebar-mill-in-osceola-interview/","article_id":"2649617529","we_media_id":null,"thumbnails":[],"rights":{"source":"fastmarkets_highlight","url":"https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/hybar-ceo-david-stickler-on-the-decision-to-build-a-second-rebar-mill-in-osceola-interview/","rn_cache_url":null,"directOrigin":true},"url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2649617529","pubTimestamp":1783483200,"columns":[],"sourceInfo":{"source_id":"fastmarkets_highlight","name":"Fastmarkets"},"weMediaInfo":null,"summary":"With steel reinforcing bar (rebar) producer Hybar’s first mill in Osceola, Arkansas, in operation for only nine months, the company announced last week that it had raised $1.1 billion to build a second rebar expansion mill next to the existing one.","collect":0,"end_time":0,"defaultTopTitle":"fastmarkets.com","property":[],"viewcount":null,"language":"en","relate_stocks":{"EAF":"Graftech International Ltd.","PICK":"iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF","BK4535":"淡马锡持仓","BK4096":"电气部件与设备","BK4551":"寇图资本持仓"},"translate_title":"Hybar首席执行官David Stickler谈在奥西奥拉建造第二家螺纹钢厂的决定：采访","themeId":null,"isJumpTheme":false,"ttsUrl":null,"symbols_score_info":{"EAF":1,"PICK":0.9},"content_text":"To better understand factors that shaped a decision to double capacity for rebar production even before the first mill on the site had achieved a 100% operational rate, Fastmarkets spoke with David Stickler, Hybar’s chief executive officer, on Tuesday June 30 to learn more about what went into the decision.\nWhy Hybar raised more capital for its second rebar mill\nFastmarkets: The latest investment round raised $1.1 billion, which is somewhat higher than the $700 million in total funding for the first Hybar rebar mill. Given that the second mill also has the same rated output capacity of 630,000 short tons per year, what is the explanation for the higher funding for the second mill?\nStickler: You’re absolutely right. So, let me just reconcile everything for you. We have over $700 million for the capital budget [in the second mill]. Then we have some repositioning of our existing balance sheet. So, we’ve raised new money to build a new mill, we’ve raised money to further strengthen our balance sheet for strategic growth opportunities. We’ve added some contingency financing, and we’ve expanded our working capital facility.\nFastmarkets: So your fundraising addressed a whole range of financial activities, not just funding to build a new mill?\nStickler: Yes, because there was so much demand we decided to go all in and accomplish several things concurrently, which are all extremely positive for Hybar.\nFastmarkets: How strong was investor demand?\nStickler: It was so strong we were 10 times oversubscribed.\nFastmarkets: That means you got commitments for 10 times the funds that you were seeking, right?\nStickler: Yes. So my guys said, “Dave, why don’t we build 10 mills?” And I told them, “Are you crazy? It’s tough enough building one at a time let alone trying to build 10 at the same time. We’d never do that.”\nBacking from long-term steel industry investors\nFastmarkets: It’s an impressive level of investor interest.\nStickler: Oh yes, but 10 times oversubscribed with some of the smartest investors in the world, many of which have been with us for well over a decade, going all the way back to Big River Steel.\nFastmarkets: So, that’s going back to 2014?\nStickler: Several have been with us for over two decades, going back to SeverCorr [the greenfield flat-rolled mini-mill completed in 2005 near Columbus, Mississippi, later acquired by Steel Dynamics Inc.], and some even go back to the first greenfield mini mill that our team was involved with [when Stickler worked on Wall Street as an investment banker and was involved with SDI’s first greenfield electric-arc furnace (EAF) flat-rolled steel mill in Butler, Indiana, in 1996].\nAnd so my point is that if people are going to continue to support your projects time and time and time again, you must be doing something right.\nScaling a first-of-its-kind steelmaking operation\nFastmarkets: Your investor team also seems to be on board with advancing steelmaking technology and reducing its carbon footprint?\nStickler: What we’ve done here [at Hybar in Osceola] is really just unbelievable. The first mill we built for Hybar was the world’s first SMS CMT®, which means continuous mill technology, right? So everything in the mill is continuously tied together: the caster, the rolling mill, the finishing facility, the stackers and bundlers, the down coiler, all tied together. \nIt’s a continuous process all the way through, and what’s amazing to me is the fact, notwithstanding that it was the world’s first, we were able to become cash flow positive after four months of operation.\nAnd we’re hovering right around 78-82% of rated capacity. And, by the end of the summer or early fall, we’ll be at or above 100% rated capacity [of 630,000 tons per year]. All we do is make rebar, and we make sizes three through 18. The last size we made was size three, and we just did that the other day. And for every stick of rebar we produce, we could sell two or three. The demand for our product is unbelievable.\nReaching full capacity ahead of schedule\nFastmarkets: What is driving the high demand?\nStickler: It’s being driven by three factors.\nOne is [that]we don’t compete with our [rebar] customers — Nucor and CMC — who both fabricate rebar, coat rebar and, in one case, precast rebar.\nWhat we do is buy scrap metal at market, convert that scrap metal into finished steel more efficiently probably than anybody in the world, and then sell our rebar at market.\nOther people that are a lot smarter than us, they’ll take our rebar and fabricate it, coat it and precast it, so we do not compete with our customers. So that’s one [reason] for the success we’ve had.\nThe second one is [that] without a doubt, we are the most sustainable steel producer in North America, in terms of environmental footprint. We have a DC [direct current] furnace, which gives us a 13-15% energy savings. All other rebar producers in North America use AC [alternating current] furnaces.\nWe have the world’s first Aura system, which is our electrical regulation system, and as part of our first mill we installed a co-located solar field and battery storage facility, such that when the sun is shining, we’re able to produce steel with 100% renewable power.\nRenewable energy ambitions strengthen market appeal\nNow, just to be perfectly accurate with you, we’ve not yet produced steel with 100% renewable power. We’ve been inching toward 100% but we haven’t done it yet, because we’re waiting for two more requirements. One is the last certification from the regulators, and the second is completion of a final harmonic study.\nSo, our environmental sustainability record has allowed certain buyers of rebar that are interested in sustainability to begin to name in their bid packages if they contain rebar, that it has to be supplied by Hybar. For a company that’s only been producing rebar for nine months, that’s quite the accomplishment.\nFastmarkets: And what is the third factor driving demand for your rebar?\nStickler: We’re the only rebar producer in North America that has three modes of transportation: barge, rail and truck. We can reach all across and all up and down this country and reach our customers. We’re selling rebar right now as far west as California, as far north as Minneapolis, as far east as Newark and as far south as Miami, Florida.\nSo, we can reach markets from one mill located here in northeast Arkansas that other companies would require two or three mills to reach.\nHow freight optionality became a competitive edge\nFastmarkets: Was this all consciously designed into the mill, starting with the location and then the technology?\nStickler: I tell you what, we didn’t really realize it at first, when we did this. Remember, [Hybar’s] first day in business as a company was August 1, 2023. We had three employees, a 1,300-acre soybean field and a billion dollars in the bank, but I didn’t realize that our freight optionality would be such a game changer in the rebar industry.\nSome of our competitors, they only have one mode of transportation, truck. And 75% of the rebar that’s produced in the United States is being produced in mills that are over 30 years old. \nSome of our competitors are operating mills that were built and designed more than 100 years ago, so you can imagine trying to operate a Model T and compete with a go-go Ferrari like Hybar. There’s no way.\nWhy Hybar is moving ahead with a second mill\nFastmarkets: Is your ability to sell rebar from your first mill going as well as you expected?\nStickler: So much so that, after nine months of operation, our ownership group, which includes TPG Capital, Koch Minerals & Trading, Quanta Services and my investment firm, Global Principal Partners, we all got together and said, “Let’s do it again.”\nSo, we’re all making incremental investments to sit alongside our bond investors. The second mill will take 24 months to build, and then we’re going to have another 630,000 tons of rated capacity, and about 12-13% of the domestic rebar market.\nFastmarkets: Was the need for additional rebar capacity in the US a factor in your investments?\nStickler: On the rebar side, we’re not doing this because it’s a fast growing, upward trending market demand for rebar. We’re doing it because we think we have a better mousetrap.\nWe’re more energy efficient, more sustainable, have more logistics options and, most importantly, our production per employee after we expand will be close to 5,000 tons of steel produced per year per worker. We have competitors that struggle to get to 2,000 tons of steel per year per worker.\nProductivity gains set Hybar apart\nWhen my team and I were running Big River Steel, before we sold it to US Steel, we produced the same 5,000 tons of steel per year per worker.\nFastmarkets: How is it that so many of the investments by you and your investor team have ended up in northeast Arkansas near the banks of the Mississippi River?\nStickler: Oh yes. It’s unbelievable. So, you know over a time span of 12 years we did Big River 1, then we expanded Big River 1. Then US [Steel] became our partner and then we did a search of 14 states, 42 sites on where to build Big River 2 — and ended up right back here in northeast Arkansas as well.\nThen, when Nippon [Steel] became involved [by purchasing US Steel], we decided to build Hybar a mile away from where I had been involved with those two Big River mills. And now we’re doing Hybar 2. And when you add all that up, it’s already $8 billion of investments, and when I do this next mill, it’ll be close to $9 billion over a 12-13 year period.\nA regional hub for next-generation steelmaking investment\nFastmarkets: That’s remarkable — and in the case of Big River 2, after looking at many competing sites.\nStickler: Oh yes. Because anytime you locate these mills, you have got to make sure you’re getting the best power rate, the best rail rate, the best economic incentives and, you know, we searched far and wide for US Steel. \nWe were so proud to be able to partner with them. They’re a company that was started 125 years ago by Andrew Carnegie. When they partnered with us, I think we’d only been running for two years or so, and then they liked it so much they bought the whole company.\nAnd because of those two beautiful Big River mills, Nippon [Steel] became interested, the third largest steel company in the world. Nippon [Steel]’s interest in US Steel was driven by the two beautiful Big River mills.\n*SMS CMT is a registered trademark for continuous mill technology from CMS Group that seamlessly links three traditionally separate steps — melting, casting, and rolling — into one continuous process to produce long steel products like rebar and wire rod.","kind":"highlight","is_publish_news":true,"is_publish_highlight":false,"is_publish_live":false,"is_publish_wemedia":false,"editions":null,"column":"","sentiment":"0","news_tag":"","news_rank":0,"isVideo":false,"video":null,"symbols":[],"gpt_button":0,"need_auth":false,"need_login_tip":false,"code":"91000000","status":"200"}}}