For Immediate Release

Public Relations Division
Public Affairs Department
1170 Eighth Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18016-7699
(610) 694-3711 - Phone
(610) 694-1509 - Fax

BETHLEHEM, Pa., August 1, 1997 -- Bethlehem Steel Corporation said today that it has signed a purchase and sale agreement for its BethForge and CENTEC businesses in Bethlehem, Pa., with two companies that are part of the West Homestead Engineering and Machinery Company (WHEMCO) group of companies. Negotiations for the sale of these businesses were part of a comprehensive restructuring plan announced last October which, with the related announcement concerning BethShip, will now have been implemented.

Lehigh Forge Corporation will purchase BethForge, and CR Acquisition will purchase CENTEC.

The sale of BethForge and CENTEC to these two companies is expected to be finalized when a new labor agreement is signed between the United Steelworkers of America and the buyers.

Said Curtis H. Barnette, chairman and chief executive officer, Bethlehem Steel:

"We are pleased to be concluding the sale of these businesses to a firm that is widely known for quality products for the metalworking industries. We are also pleased that these transactions will provide continuing employment opportunities on this site to skilled and dedicated employees who previously worked for Bethlehem Steel."

Said William G. Cook Jr., president and chief executive officer, WHEMCO:

"The acquisition of these two businesses strengthens WHEMCO's product range and its ability to serve the varied needs of the metalworking and industrial machinery industries. We are pleased to welcome these businesses to the WHEMCO group."

Bethlehem said that because negotiations with the USWA are continuing, the corporation will have no further comment until those negotiations have concluded and an agreement has been signed.

CENTEC, founded in 1990, has become a leading supplier of cast iron rolls to the metalworking industry in North America. The business has its own source of metal to produce cast iron rolls and recently launched a new product -- high speed rolls -- to meet the needs of hot strip mills. Like CENTEC, the buyer will have a technical relationship with Forcast International of France. CENTEC employs 125.

BethForge has forging and machining facilities in Bethlehem and receives steel produced at Bethlehem Steel's Pennsylvania Steel Technologies (PST) business unit in Steelton, Pa. Lehigh Forge will purchase steel produced at PST, including steel ingots that have received special services requested by forging customers such as ladle arc refining, ladle vacuum degassing, stream degassing and bottom pouring of ingots. BethForge employs 450. WHEMCO maintains iron and steel foundries employing about 500 people who produce a wide range of components for industrial equipment at operations in Ohio, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. WHEMCO is a division of the Park Corporation, a Cleveland-based company that owns and operates numerous manufacturing facilities that serve the automotive, steel, petrochemical, heat treating and other heavy industries.