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Liberty House Acquires Two Tata Pipe Mills
07/11/2017 - Metals entrepreneur Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty House Group has reached a deal to acquire two large-diameter pipe mills from Tata Steel U.K.
In an announcement Tuesday, Tata Steel said that it will divest the 42- and 84-inch welded pipe mills at its Harltepool, England, facility. A sale price wasn’t disclosed.
“As a responsible seller we have worked long and hard to find a sustainable future for the 42- and 84-inch pipe mills. With this sale, Tata Steel U.K. will complete its portfolio restructuring to focus on the strip products supply chain linked to Port Talbot,” said Tata Steel chief executive Bimlendra Jha in a statement. “The sale is also an important step towards developing a more sustainable future for the rest of our U.K. business,” he added.
The two mills have a combined annual capacity of approximately 250,000 metric tons of longitudinal submerged-arc welded pipe, which is sold into the energy, power and construction sectors.
The sale does not include Tata’s 20-inch high-frequency induction tube mill, which makes products for the construction, infrastructure and machinery sectors. Tata said it will retain that mill and, in fact, invest approximately US$1.3 million in it to produce high-strength steel tubes.
The 20-inch mill sources steel coils from Tata’s Port Talbot works and is considered a part of Tata’s European strip steel business.
The acquisition follows Liberty House’s purchase of Tata Steel’s European specialty steels business and of Caparo Industries’ merchant bar mills. And last week, the Gupta family’s GFG Alliance, of which Liberty House is a part, announced that it would acquire Australian steelmaker Arrium.
Liberty House said the intention is to upgrade steelmaking capabilities in Australia and platemaking capabilities at its Dalzell mill in Scotland -- also acquired from Tata Steel -- to make API grade products for oil and gas pipelines.
“This is set to become an important addition to our group. Hartlepool has world-class LSAW pipe mills, and a skilled workforce, with a long history and recognition worldwide. This step will inspire investments not only in Hartlepool but also in our upstream plate mill at Dalzell, and potentially also at the steel shop at Whyalla in Australia in due course, to give us a fully integrated, world-class capability to supply pipeline projects," Gupta said.
“As a responsible seller we have worked long and hard to find a sustainable future for the 42- and 84-inch pipe mills. With this sale, Tata Steel U.K. will complete its portfolio restructuring to focus on the strip products supply chain linked to Port Talbot,” said Tata Steel chief executive Bimlendra Jha in a statement. “The sale is also an important step towards developing a more sustainable future for the rest of our U.K. business,” he added.
The two mills have a combined annual capacity of approximately 250,000 metric tons of longitudinal submerged-arc welded pipe, which is sold into the energy, power and construction sectors.
The sale does not include Tata’s 20-inch high-frequency induction tube mill, which makes products for the construction, infrastructure and machinery sectors. Tata said it will retain that mill and, in fact, invest approximately US$1.3 million in it to produce high-strength steel tubes.
The 20-inch mill sources steel coils from Tata’s Port Talbot works and is considered a part of Tata’s European strip steel business.
The acquisition follows Liberty House’s purchase of Tata Steel’s European specialty steels business and of Caparo Industries’ merchant bar mills. And last week, the Gupta family’s GFG Alliance, of which Liberty House is a part, announced that it would acquire Australian steelmaker Arrium.
Liberty House said the intention is to upgrade steelmaking capabilities in Australia and platemaking capabilities at its Dalzell mill in Scotland -- also acquired from Tata Steel -- to make API grade products for oil and gas pipelines.
“This is set to become an important addition to our group. Hartlepool has world-class LSAW pipe mills, and a skilled workforce, with a long history and recognition worldwide. This step will inspire investments not only in Hartlepool but also in our upstream plate mill at Dalzell, and potentially also at the steel shop at Whyalla in Australia in due course, to give us a fully integrated, world-class capability to supply pipeline projects," Gupta said.
