Perma Resources’ Rial Named Chief Executive of Kaiser Steel

Monty H. Rial, who had served as vice chairman of Kaiser Steel in the year since it was acquired by two investor groups, has been elected chairman and chief executive, the Fontana-based company announced Tuesday.

Rial, 43, is a founder and president of Perma Resources Corp., an energy concern based in Colorado Springs, Colo. In February, 1984, an investment group led by J. A. Frates of Tulsa, Okla., and Rial’s Perma Group bought Kaiser Steel in a leveraged buy-out valued at $374 million. Frates had been chairman of Kaiser Steel, and Rial had managed the company’s day-to-day operations. The Perma Group acquired 100% of the company April 10, paying about $40 million to the Frates group.

Kaiser Steel, once a part of the empire built by Oakland industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, has a variety of industrial operations including a fabricated products division and a coal mining division with about 1.3 billion tons of coal reserves. It also has considerable real estate holdings in Southern California. The Fontana steel mill, closed in 1983, was sold last year.

Although the company has sold about $250 million of assets, Rial said it has made two acquisitions and its “net worth is greater than when we came.” The new ownership has directed the “careful and intense management of the company’s resources,” he said, bringing Kaiser Steel to the break-even point. Rial said he expects 1985 to be a profitable year.

Also at the company’s board meeting last week, Lloyd G. Hansen, 49, was elected a director and Miles Yeagly, 40, was named vice president-organization.