Boomerang Tube Acquires Southern Tube
Boomerang Tube LLC (Chesterfield, MO), an Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) producer, has purchased 100 percent of the ownership interests in Southern Tube LLC (STL; Houston, TX) from Nippon Steel & Sumikin Oil Field Services Inc. (Tokyo, Japan). The ownership change is effective immediately and STL will operate as a wholly-owned unit of Boomerang Tube.
This acquisition will enable Boomerang Tube to significantly expand their production capacity and product offering, which will now include seamless tubes and third-party processing of green tube. It will also allow them to process overflow production from their Liberty plant and increase their capacity to produce finished alloy tubes to almost 400,000 tons per year. They can also utilize the STL facility, only 37 miles away from their 487,000 sq ft Liberty site, to handle the limited third-party processing of OCTG performed at the current location. Boomerang Tube also intends to re-establish the rail siding on the STL site and offer direct rail shipments to customers. The 300,000 sq ft site has benefited from significant capital investment over the last few years and now boasts a state-of-the-art Danieli soaking furnace, Olympus ultrasonic inspection and advanced threading capabilities.
“Although a number of facilities have come available over the past few years, until now we had not found assets that would help us move forward with our core mission to be the most responsive supplier of OCTG products in the business,” said John Fontana, the chairman of Boomerang Tube. “With STL, our combined company is positioned to bring an even greater range of OCTG products to our users who are seeking our quality domestic-sourced steel tubing. We intend to maintain their corporate identity for the near term. Contracts with suppliers, customers and service providers – as well as the employees – are not going to change for now. We know that with both companies’ capabilities, it will be easy to expand our offering and overall market presence.”
“Our company is proud to have been chosen by Nippon Steel & Sumikin Oil Field Services to take on the ownership and operation of STL, and we look forward to merging these two quality-driven cultures to continue to provide the best service in our industry,” Fontana continued. “Overall, the STL team will remain intact, with operations reporting up through Boomerang Tube’s president, Sudhakar Kanthamneni, and sales reporting to and coordinating with our company’s vice president of sales, Kelly Hanlon, and the finance team reporting to Bob Horsfield, the chief financial officer.”
