AK Steel Announces Pricing of Concurrent Offerings of Common Stock and Senior Unsecured Notes

WEST CHESTER, Ohio, Sept. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE: AKS) ("AK Holding") announced today the pricing of its public offering of common stock.  AK Holding agreed to sell 35 million shares of common stock at a public offering price of $9.00 per share.  In connection with this offering, AK Holding granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 5.25 million shares of common stock.

Concurrently with the pricing of its offering of common stock, AK Steel Corporation ("AK Steel"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of AK Holding, successfully priced a public offering of $430 million of 7.625% senior notes due 2021, which were offered to the public at a price of 99.325% of par.  AK Steel will pay interest on the notes semi-annually on April 1 and October 1 of each year. Interest on the newly issued notes will accrue from September 16, 2014. The notes will mature on October 1, 2021. The notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by AK Holding, as well as AK Tube LLC and AK Steel Properties, Inc., two wholly-owned subsidiaries of AK Steel (the "Subsidiary Guarantors").

AK Holding and AK Steel intend to use all of the net proceeds from the sale of the notes, plus a portion of the net proceeds from the sale of the common stock, to pay the purchase price for AK Steel's acquisition of Severstal Dearborn, LLC.  To the extent there are remaining net proceeds from the sale of common stock, AK Holding intends to use such proceeds to repay borrowings under its asset-backed revolving credit facility and for general corporate purposes.  Both offerings are being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Both offerings are expected to close on September 16, 2014, subject to customary closing conditions.

The joint book-running managers for the common stock offering are BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan. The joint book-running managers for the notes offering are Credit Suisse, Citigroup  and J.P. Morgan.  

AK Holding, AK Steel and the Subsidiary Guarantors have filed a registration statement (including a prospectus) with the SEC relating to the offerings.  Each of the offerings may be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus.  Before you invest, you should read the relevant prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus and other documents AK Holding, AK Steel or either of the Subsidiary Guarantors have filed with the SEC for more complete information about AK Holding, AK Steel, the Subsidiary Guarantors and the relevant offering.  You may review electronic copies of these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC Web site at www.sec.gov.

Alternatively, any underwriter or any dealer participating in the offering will arrange to send you the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus if you request them by contacting: (i) BofA Merrill Lynch, 222 Broadway, New York, New York 10038, Attention: Prospectus Department, email: dg.prospectus [email protected]; (ii) Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Prospectus Department, One Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10010, telephone: 1-800-221-1037, or email: [email protected]; (iii) Citigroup, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, telephone: 1-800-831-9146 or by email at [email protected]; and (iv) J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Attention: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, telephone: 1-866-803-9204.

This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the common stock or the notes in the offerings, nor shall there be any sale of such common stock or notes in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in this release are intended to be, and hereby are identified as "forward-looking statements" for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  The company cautions readers that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently expected by management, including those risks and uncertainties discussed in AK Holding's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2014, as updated in its subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Except as required by law, the company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect future developments or events.

AK Steel
AK Steel is a world leader in the production of flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products, primarily for automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets.  The company's AK Tube subsidiary produces carbon and stainless electric resistance welded tubular steel products for truck, automotive and other markets.  Headquartered in West Chester, Ohio (Greater Cincinnati), the company employs approximately 6,500 men and women at seven steel plants and two tube manufacturing plants across four states: Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania.  The company also has interests in iron ore through its Magnetation LLC joint venture and in metallurgical coal through its AK Coal subsidiary.  Additional information about AK Steel is available at www.aksteel.com. 

SOURCE AK Steel Holding Corporation