Lone Star Technologies Agrees to Buy North Star Tube Operations

Lone Star Technologies, Inc. and North Star Steel have approved an agreement under which Lone Star will acquire the assets of North Star’s Tubular Steel Division.

The Tubular Division produces seamless products, including line pipe, standard pipe, mechanical pipe, coupling stock and casing that are used primarily in the oil and gas exploration and transmission industry. The division has facilities in Youngstown, Ohio and Houston, Texas.

Lone Star will pay $430 million to complete the acquisition and will assume certain working capital liabilities. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.

Rhys J. Best, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Lone Star, stated, "The addition of North Star's seamless pipe business to our portfolio represents an important step forward in our strategy to provide our customers with access to the broadest possible range of high-quality oilfield tubular products and services. North Star's premier position in the seamless pipe market, coupled with their distinguished track record of operational excellence and strong financial performance, will complement our expertise in welded-pipe operations and extend our commercial leadership in the OCTG industry. We are delighted to welcome the Tubular Division management and employees onto our team and we look forward to working together to build on our success."

The North Star Steel Tubular Division can manufacture 650,000 tons of steel blooms and 550,000 tons of seamless pipe annually at the Youngstown facility. The Houston end-finishing facility includes heat-treating, threading and coupling operations of pipe made in Youngstown.