Allan Goldstein is not interested in the money he could raise from a public offering of stock, nor the attention he might receive from it.

	Online Graphic: Top Private Companies

Instead, the chief executive officer of AMG Resources, a scrap metal processing company on Neville Island, prefers the "stealth" that comes with operating a privately held company.

It means not having to worry about beating Wall Street estimates and not having to answer "every old lady" who shows up at an annual shareholders meeting. "I like that," he said.

AMG, registering $520 million in revenue last year, ranks a quiet 13th on the Post-Gazette's annual list of the area's largest private companies. Despite their preference for anonymity, AMG and the 49 other companies large enough to make the list are collectively a hard group to ignore: they sold more than $29 billion worth of goods and services in 2004, led at the top by perennial titans Giant Eagle ($5.2 billion), 84 Lumber ($3.5 billion), Westinghouse Electric Co. ($1.9 billion) and GNC ($1.3 billion).

One newcomer to the top 5 is Glassport-based Tube City IMS Corp. ($1.3 billion), which provides raw materials to steel mills and processes slag. Tube City more than doubled its sales in 2004, benefiting from a banner year in the steel industry as well as a merger with like-size, cross-state competitor International Mill Service Inc., of Horsham, Montgomery County. Both now are owned by Wellspring Capital Management, a private equity investment firm in New York.

The Post-Gazette, trying to make the private rankings as comprehensive as possible, approached every company that made this year's list, as well as scores more that did not make the cut. Where independent information was not available, the PG relied on figures provided by Hoover's, a subsidiary of business information research firm Dun & Bradstreet. Some companies that may have been large enough to make the list chose not to provide information, citing preservation of their privacy.

"We try to keep a low profile and would like to keep it that way," said a representative of real estate company J.J. Gumberg Co.

Among several companies that did not respond to a request for information was The Hillman Co., a Downtown real estate and investment firm legendary for its private approach to business. The owner of the neo-Gothic PPG Place still follows the dictum of former chairman Henry Hillman, who was once quoted as saying, "The spouting whale gets harpooned." Hillman, who stepped down as chairman in July, also kept a sign on the wall that read, "Public relations has no relation to thinking."

Off the list this year is electricity supplier Strategic Energy, which was purchased last year by publicly traded Great Plains Energy, the parent of Kansas City Power & Light. Strategic Energy ranked No. 5 on last year's list and would have done just as well again this year, with revenue of $1.3 billion.

Among the newcomers to the list are mechanical contractor Limbach Facility Services (No. 22); freight transportation manager Pittsburgh Logistics Systems (No. 27); plastics compounder Washington Penn Plastic (No. 36); real estate broker Hanna Holdings Inc. (No. 39); managed health care provider Gateway Health Plan Inc. (No. 9); and health plan provider Three Rivers Health Group (No. 11).

Another new arrival is Hunter Services (tied at No. 32), although the Butler company that leases and repairs trucks has been in business for 66 years. It employs 500 in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with 2004 revenue of $250 million.

President Bob Hunter said he had thought about selling stock in the trucking firm founded by his father, but added: "We have always been able to generate enough capital to keep going without going public. We know there are downsides to it, as well."

For example, a rival trucking company that went public now spends "all their time with analysts," Hunter said. "We like being truck dealers" instead.

Companies with connections to the steel industry did well this year, landing several new companies on the list. They include AMG, the buyer and seller of scrap metal that saw its revenues increase 73 percent last year, and PTC Alliance Corp. (No. 18), a Pine maker of steel tubing that employs 1,800 and increased its revenues by 34 percent, to $401 million, riding a big demand for steel products.

"We had a very, very good year," said PTC Chief Financial Officer Ed Cumberledge.