Stelco president to retire after leading company through bankruptcy protection

Stelco president Mike McQuade will retire at the end of the year after leading the company through a three-year bankruptcy protection process that ended in July.

McQuade has been with the Hamilton steelmaker through some tumultuous chapters, joining the company in the 1970s as a co-op student before getting hired in 1981 and rising through the ranks from accounting and operations.

The company mentioned his planned retirement in a document filed with securities regulators, updating Stelco's plan to sell shares of the company publicly.

Last December, McQuade stood in front of the steel plant and declared that the company formerly known as U.S. Steel Canada was changing its name back.

"Today is about taking another step forward towards a brighter future, and making Stelco great again," he said.

McQuade will earn $415,000 in salary with bonuses of $638,573 this year, according to the filing.

The bonuses include an annual bonus as well as a "key employee retention plan" bonus that was intended to keep essential leaders around during the lengthy bankruptcy protection process under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.

The company is looking to raise $200 million in its initial public offering. Stelco expects shares will be priced between $16 and $18 per share. The plan to take the company public again was announced last month.

In the filing, the company highlights what it believes to be its strengths: technologically advanced operations, low cost of doing business, strategic location and room to grow at both the Lake Erie and Hamilton plants.

More than 2,200 people work at Stelco across the two plants.

Stelco plans to use capital raised in the offering to fund:

• Capital improvements to increase production capabilities.
• Payments toward pensions and post-retirement benefits.
• Other corporate purposes. 

In June, an Ontario judge approved the sale of Stelco to Bedrock Industries, which was completed on June 30.

Bedrock is expected to hold a roughly 86.5 per cent interest in the company following the offering, based on the midpoint of the estimated price range for the shares.

kelly.bennett@cbc.ca