Metallurgical companies Silcotub Zalau, Laminorul Braila and Tubinox Bucharest are on the verge of a takeover by Russian TMK Group. This follows a surprise turn of events in a race that had the international Tenaris Group, one of the leading piping producers in the world as favourite, market sources say.
At present, Silcotub, Laminorul Braila and Tubinox Bucharest are held by Tubman International, which the latest available data indicates as being controlled by a British businessman.
A number of weeks ago, Tenaris had officially announced it was in advanced talks for acquiring Silcotub, having signed an exclusive negotiation agreement, according to quoted sources.
Surprisingly, Tenaris announced it had withdrawn from the Silcotub talks two weeks ago, choosing not to provide further detail in this regard.
Market sources say it backed out because the Russians at TMK came up with a better offer in terms of price and therefore initiated negotiations. Besides the price, Tubman also took into account the fact that the Russians made an offer for all three companies in the group, Silcotub, Laminorul and Tubinox, while Tenaris only wanted Silcotub.
Tenaris is one of the leading producers of piping in the world, whose turnover reaches $3.1bn.
The TMK Group, headquartered in Moscow, holds four factories in Russia and has bought Artrom Slatina (steel pipe maker) and Combinatul Siderurgic Resita through the German company Sinara Handel in the last two years.
When contacted by Ziarul Financiar, the TMK, Tenaris and Tubman representatives preferred not to comment on the negotiations for Silcotub, Laminorul and Tubinox.
Even if TMK reaches an agreement with Tubman on the price, it may face an obstacle in form of the Competition Council, which previously prohibited a concentration in the piping industry a few years ago. In this previous instance, the Council stepped in regarding Tubman’s attempt to buy another piping maker, Petrotub Roman, through Silcotub. The takeover was prohibited because the two companies together would have had an almost complete portfolio in the piping industry and dominated some 75% of the market in certain sectors.
laurentiu.ispir@zf.ro