Durrett-Sheppard Steel Co. Inc., a 31-year-old East Baltimore steel service company, said yesterday that it will be acquired by two Baltimore businessmen.
Terms were not disclosed.
The buyers are Ralph H. Gibson and Perry J. Bolton, principals in Bolton, Gibson and Associates, a partnership formed in March for the purpose of making business acquisitions.
Mr. Gibson will take over as chief executive of Durrett-Sheppard upon the closing of the transaction, which is expected in the first quarter of next year.
Mr. Gibson said Durrett-Sheppard is profitable but declined to discuss sales or earnings. He said his plan is to expand the business through acquisitions.
Durrett-Sheppard is in the Canton Industrial Park near the intersection of Interstate 95 and Eastern Avenue. It has about 130 workers.
The plan is to keep the company in Baltimore, Mr. Gibson said.
Durrett-Sheppard is a wholesaler of finished steel products to commercial and industrial customers. "We don't make steel, but we can cut and burn it to meet the needs of our customers," Mr. Gibson said.
Before coming to Baltimore last year, Mr. Gibson was president and chief executive officer of Motorbooks International, a publishing and wholesale company based in Osceola, Wis. He is the husband of Mary Junck, publisher and chief executive officer of The Baltimore Sun.
Mr. Bolton is a native of Baltimore who previously was vice president for corporate development for the A. S. Abell Co., publisher of The Sun and The Evening Sun before its acquisition by Times Mirror Co., and was executive vice president in charge of North American acquisitions for McCorquedale Holdings Inc.
Mr. Bolton will serve as a board member of the steel company as well as an adviser to Mr. Gibson.
lTC