Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with US-based Wheatland Tube, LLC, an operating division of Zekelman Industries, to sell its shares in Western Tube & Conduit Corporation (WTC), a subsidiary of NSSMC in California in the US.
According to NSSMC’s statement, as part of its concentration on its core group companies, it has decided to sell its shares in WTC. Due to changes in the business environment, WTC’s business has come to have limited synergy with NSSMC’s business. The sale of the shares is expected to be completed within 2017.
WTC produces and sells electric resistance welded pipes and tubes and has an annual production capacity of 240,000 mt.