Sandvik acquires UK steel distributor
Sandvik, which has held a 55% interest in UK steel distributor RGB since 1994, has acquired the balance of the shares outstanding and is now the sole owner of the company.
RGB is a supplier of stainless steel products, principally tube, pipe, fittings, flanges, sheet, plate and bar, mainly to the chemical process industry and the oil and gas industries. The company will continue to be operated as an independent distributor of steel products supplied by Sandvik Steel and other steel producers. RGB's present sales director, Peter Rose, has been appointed managing director.
The company, which is headquartered in Smethwick, near Birmingham, has three regional office/warehouses in the United Kingdom. In 1996, RGB had sales corresponding to approximately SEK 300 M, with 130 employees.
"Through this acquisition, we expect to be able to further improve our service to this important sector of the UK market," says Sandvik Steel's president, Per Ericson.
Sandviken, 26 March 1997
AB Sandvik Steel
Sandvik Steel, a business area in the Sandvik Group, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of seamless tube, strip, wire and bar, produced in stainless and high-alloy steels and special alloys. Invoiced sales in 1996 were SEK 9 billion, with 7,700 employees, of whom about 4,000 in Sandviken, Sweden.