Liberty House, the industrial group owned by Sanjeev Gupta, has acquired two British pipe mills owned by Tata Steel, on which an agreement was reached last month.

This is part of its ambitions to become a “world leader” in the 50-million-tonne-a-year global oil and gas pipeline sector.

“We are already looking at plants in other countries,” Gupta said, as the company set up a new pipe and tube division headed by James Annal, who had previously headed ArcelorMittal’s energy tubular products division.

Gupta said that the acquisition would give the company the basis to upgrade the liquid steel facilities it was acquiring in South Australia as well as its plate mills (also acquired from Tata Steel, in Scotland) to make high-value added API grade plates that could be rolled at the new mills to supply pipeline projects worldwide. “This fully-integrated value chain will make us a world leader in this field.”

The 42-inch and 82-inch pipe mills have a capacity of 250,000 tonnes a year. While they currently employ around 140 people, the company hopes to raise the numbers by 100.

Liberty House has not acquired the neighbouring 20-inch mill which remains with Tata Steel as part of its strategy of focussing on its strip products supply chain linked to Port Talbot.

The deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions by Liberty House and its associated groups.

It has spent over £500 million on acquisitions in Britain since the start of 2017, as well as others across the world, including the US and Australia, as part of a strategy of acquiring struggling businesses with potential and integrating them into their end-to-end business.

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