Tata Steel today said it has completed sale of its Submerged Arc Weld (SAW) mills at Hartlepool in the UK to Liberty House Group.
Last month Tata Steel had announced it has signed definitive agreement with Liberty House Group to sell its Submerged Arc Weld (SAW) mills at Hartlepool in the UK for an undisclosed sum.
In a regulatory filing, Tata Steel said, "it has completed the sale of its 42 and 84 inch pipe mills in Hartlepool Liberty House Group".
The sale covers the 42 and 84-inch pipe mills, also known as the SAW mills, where about 140 employees manufacture pipeline for gas and oil projects around the world, the company said.
Tata Steel, however, said it would retain its 20-inch tube mill at the same Hartlepool site, where a further 270 people work.
Earlier in February, Tata Steel had announced signing a definitive agreement to sell Speciality Steel business in the UK to Liberty House Group for 100 million pounds (about Rs 840 crore).
Tata Steel said the two SAW mills to be sold to Liberty Group are fed with steel plate sourced from outside Tata Steel and hence are independent of the company's strip products supply chain.
With a view to strengthen its 20-inch mill, Tata Steel said it will invest one million pound to increase capability to make high-strength steel tubes.
The 20-inch mill is supplied with steel coils from Tata Steels European steelworks and is part of its strip products supply chain.
Tata Steel said it would continue to be the largest steelmaker in Britain even after the sale of the mills and will employ almost 8,500 people in the UK, manufacturing advanced products for sectors like automotive and construction.
The company has invested more than 1.6 billion pounds in its UK business since acquiring Corus in 2007, including 100 million pounds over the last year to enable advanced steel manufacturing in a number of UK sites, it added.
"This is an important first step in our ambition to become a world leader in energy pipe and we are already looking at plants in other countries.
The acquisition of this high-calibre business and its skilled workforce gives us the basis to upgrade the liquid steel production facilities we're buying at Whyalla, South Australia, and our plate mills at Dalzell and Clydebridge in Scotland to make high-value-added API grade plates that can be rolled at Hartlepool to supply pipeline projects worldwide," Liberty House Executive Chairman Sanjeev Gupta said.
"This fully-integrated value chain will make us a world leader in this field and help showcase Britain's engineering prowess in supplying a world-class highly-engineered product," Gupta added.
Liberty has said it intends to rebuild the previously struggling operation at Hartlepool, adding around 100 new jobs to the existing 140-strong workforce.
The pipe mills have a combined capacity of 250,000 tonnes a year.
Liberty, which is part of the GFG Alliance, has appointed James Annal to head the new pipe and tube division.
"I am very familiar with the pipe business in Hartlepool and am really looking forward to working with the team there to make it a pivotal part of an exciting new global business," Liberty Pipe CEO James Annal said.
The addition of the Hartlepool pipe mills brings Liberty's UK workforce to nearly 5,500 people spread across more than 30 sites, making it one of Britain's largest industrial employers.
"The completion of Liberty's acquisition of Tata Steel's two pipe mills will be welcome news to the workforce and safeguarding of jobs in Hartlepool. This investment further demonstrates confidence in the UK economy and in our Industrial Strategy," the UK's business minister Lord Prior said.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
