WCI Steel Concludes Sale to OAO Severstal to Create 'Bright Future Built on a Proud Past'

WARREN, Ohio, July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The sale of WCI Steel Inc. (OTC: WCIS.PK) to OAO Severstal was completed today, providing "a bright future built on a proud past" for its employees, customers, suppliers and community, said Leonard M. Anthony, outgoing president and chief executive officer of WCI Steel.

"Since 1912, steel has been made in Warren, providing good-paying jobs for hundreds of thousands of people during its nearly 100 years of operation. Over the years, the changes in ownership have propelled our people to reach higher and become stronger in their dedication to diverse and high-quality steel backed by outstanding custom service for our many valued and loyal customers. We expect that tradition will continue under the ownership of Severstal.

"Steelmaking in Warren has been acclaimed for its custom steel, custom service and creative solutions for nearly a century. It has been the lifeblood of this region and has sustained the community during good times and bad. Severstal, with its global operations and supply chain, will provide our facility with a bright future built on a proud past. Under Severstal ownership, the Warren operations, which will be known as Severstal Warren, Inc., are positioned for long-term success in today's increasingly global and highly competitive steel marketplace.

"On behalf of the board of directors, I personally thank our loyal and dedicated employees, our excellent customers, our valued suppliers, and the local, regional and state government officials in Ohio for their strong support during the past 26 months as we created a plan to secure our future. I truly believe the operations at Warren as a member of Severstal will serve its various constituencies for many years to come with custom steel, custom service and creative solutions."

With the closing of the sale to Severstal, WCI Steel shareholders will receive about $3.29 per share in cash.

Moelis & Company acted as exclusive financial advisor to WCI Steel, Inc. McDermott Will & Emery LLP acted as legal counsel to the company, and Kaye Scholer LLP acted as legal counsel to the Special Committee of the Board of Directors.

About WCI Steel, Inc.

WCI Steel's strength is built on "Custom Steel. Custom Service. Creative Solutions." As an integrated producer of value-added, custom steel products serving niche markets, WCI Steel emphasizes customer and technical service. WCI Steel currently produces 185 grades of flat-rolled custom and commodity steel products at its Warren, Ohio facility. WCI Steel focuses on a wide range of custom flat-rolled steel products, including high carbon, alloy, ultra high strength, and heavy-gauge galvanized steel and on developing closer, more responsive relationships with customers. Major customers are steel converters, processors, service centers, construction product companies, and pipe and tube manufacturers.

About Severstal

OAO Severstal is an international metals and mining company with a listing on the Russian Trading System and the London Stock Exchange. Incorporated in 1993, the company focuses on high-value-added and unique niche products and has a successful track record of acquiring and integrating high-quality assets in North America and Europe. Severstal owns mining assets in Russia, thus securing its supplies of raw materials. In 2007, Severstal produced 17.5 million tons of steel. Revenues were $15.2 billion, and EBITDA was $3.7 billion. EPS was $1.92.

Forward-Looking Statements

Information contained in this release, other than historical information, should be considered "forward-looking statements" within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

WCI Steel cautions that there are various important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those indicated in the forward- looking statements; accordingly, there can be no assurance that such indicated events will occur.

Among such factors are: general economic and business conditions; demand for WCI Steel's products; changes in liquidity, timing of completion of the acquisition, changes in, or the failure or inability to comply with, government regulation, including, without limitation, anti-trust legislation and environmental regulations; the outcome of legal matters and other risk factors.

Except as required by law, WCI Steel does not assume any responsibility to update any forward-looking statements to reflect future developments or events.

Important Limitations on Using News Releases

By their very nature, news releases are dated and time-sensitive, reflecting information that is current, or expectations that are believed to be reasonable, at the time of issuance. Reading an out-of-date news release can, therefore, be misleading and should never be relied upon as a current statement of fact or expectation.

WCI Steel, Inc. undertakes no responsibility to delete, edit or update information in old news releases that may no longer reflect current facts or expectations.

SOURCE WCI Steel Inc.