Worthington Steel has plan B should Kloeckner acquisition fall through

By Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff

FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, March 2 (Reuters) - U.S.-based Worthington Steel WS.N would have a decent number of acquisition targets to pick from if a planned $2.4 billion deal to buy German metals trader Kloeckner & Co KCOGn.DE fell through, the group's chief executive told Reuters.

The comments by Geoff Gilmore come less than two weeks before the offer's deadline expires on March 12, with Worthington obliged to secure at least 65% of Kloeckner's shares to clinch the deal.

While Gilmore said he was "highly confident" to hit that goal, having already secured 53% from Kloeckner's major shareholder Swoctem and other tenders, the German firm has been one of around 10 targets Worthington looked at.

"We felt like Kloeckner made the most sense and brought the most synergies along with positioning us best strategically in the current situation," Gilmore said.

"But that doesn't mean that options two, three, four, and five aren't good options. So we would have good alternatives to pursue in a situation where this does not come to reality," he added.

The North American metals trading sector is currently subject to substantial consolidation, with Ryerson RYN.N recently merging with Olympic Steel ZEUS.O and Thyssenkrupp TKAG.DE looking to divest its materials trading division.