Tata Steel to acquire three service centres of SSAB in Nordic region

Mumbai: Tata Steel Europe on Thursday announced the acquisition of three service centres from SSAB, a Swedish steel manufacturer of strip, plate and tubular products, to strengthen its offering to manufacturers in the region.

Tata Steel has acquired the company’s facilities in Sweden, Finland and Norway for an undisclosed amount, it said in a notification to stock exchanges.

“These acquisitions will strengthen our strip products offering to manufacturers in this region. Improving our local processing capability will significantly enhance our product offering and service levels to customers,” said Karl Koehler, chief executive officer of Tata Steel Europe in a press release.

“There is a sophisticated and demanding customer base in the Nordic region which increasingly requires advanced steel products,” Koehler added.

The three centres process strip products offering services such as cutting-to-length, slitting and recoiling. They supply steel to manufacturers in the automotive, construction and electrical supplies industries and heavy and light engineering companies.

The European Commission has approved the sale of these service centres. SSAB was required to sell them as a condition of its takeover by another company. The transactions remain subject to approval from competition authorities in Norway, Sweden and Finland, and their implementation will follow these approvals.

Tata Steel Europe announced a pre-tax operational profit of £74.7 million for the first nine months of 2014-15, compared to a loss of £13.9 million for the same period in 2013-14.

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