Francis Alexander

Francis Alexander (1951 - 2021)

Francis Alexander was born in Antwerpen on July 27th, 1951.

He completed his studies at the University of Antwerp in applied economics.

His career as a steel trader started rather by chance. His first assignment was a trainee job with the Cargill group in New York. In 1977, he joined the Ferex family and met his old schoolmate Carlo Pannemans who had already substantial experience in steel.

In 1983, Francis began a six-year period managing Ferex Düsseldorf which gave him the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the steel business in the EEC.

Later, Francis and Carlo joined their former boss at Ferex to jointly take over a very small trader in Antwerp called Promatex.

The growth of Promatex exceeded all expectations, particularly in the African market, and they established Ferromex which focused its activities on Asia.

In 2002, Promatex took over Compansid, a company operating in Latin America, and then started the merger to create the SteelFORCE Group in 2006, which went on to become active in 90 countries across Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, handling 2.3 million tons of steel.

Francis’ mottoes were: Long live steel, Vive l’acier, Viva el acero, Lang leve staal

Mr. Francis Alexander passed away in Antwerpen, Belgium on February 6th 2021.