Tata Steel completes sale of Submerged Arc Weld in UK

Tata Steel said it would retain its 20-inch tube mill at the same Hartlepool site

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 BSE 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.