Tata Steel UK completes sale of pipe mills to Liberty

Tata Steel UK on Tuesday said it has completed the sale of its 42- and 84-inch pipe mills in Hartlepool to Liberty House Group.

The sale covers the 42-inch and 84-inch pipe mills, also known as the Submerged Arc Weld (Saw) mills, where about 140 employees manufacture pipeline for gas and oil projects around the world.

"As a responsible seller it was important for us to find the most sustainable future for the 42- and 84-inch pipe mills. With this sale, the company completes its portfolio restructuring to focus on the strip products supply chain linked to Port Talbot," said Bimlendra Jha, CEO of Tata Steel UK.

The two mills are fed with steel plate sourced from outside Tata Steel, so the mills were independent of the company's strip products supply chain.

The steel producer will retain its 20-inch tube mill at the same Hartlepool site, which makes tubes for a range of markets, including construction, infrastructure and machinery, the company said in a statement.

"Further strengthen the 20-inch mill, the company will be making a 1 million-pound investment to increase its capability to make high-strength steel tubes. The 20-inch mill is supplied with steel coils from its European steelworks and is part of its strip products supply chain," it said.

The company claimed that it would continue to be the largest steelmaker in Britain following the sale of the 42- and 84-inch pipe mills. Employing almost 8,500 people, it will manufacture advanced products for sectors like automotive and construction.

The steel producer has invested more than 1.6 billion pounds since acquiring steel company Corus in 2007.

--IANS

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