LTV Corp. to Sell Steel Tubular Products Division to Maverick Tube Corp.

Bankrupt steelmaker LTV Corp. has agreed to sell the assets of its LTV Steel Tubular Products business, Youngstown, Ohio, to Maverick Tube Corp. for approximately $110 million in cash.

LTV's Tubular Division, which employs about 430 people at five locations in Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio and Michigan, mainly produces and sells electrical conduit products for the U.S. market, where it has approximately a 35 percent market share. LTV Tubular also produces line pipe and standard pipe products for the energy and construction industries.

St. Louis-based Maverick makes pipes for oil wells.

Maverick said the transaction, which would add LTV's line pipe and standard pipe business to its existing activities and expand market penetration in both products, is contingent on a collective bargaining agreement with the United Steel Workers of America, which represents about 300 employees at four of LTV Tubular's five facilities. The deal, which is also contingent on environmental due diligence, clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and approval of the bankruptcy court, is expected to close by the end of the year.

Gregg Eisenberg, Maverick's president and CEO, said, “We are pleased to reach an agreement with the LTV Corp. for the purchase of the Tubular Division. This has been a relatively stable business that produces good margins under most market conditions. The electrical conduit market has few suppliers and is not subject to significant import competition. Their line pipe and standard pipe business complements our existing activities and expands our market penetration in both products.”

The LTV Corp. also announced that it has decided to reorganize Copperweld, a producer of welded steel tubing in North America, as a stand-alone company. The company and its creditors are developing a separate plan of reorganization by which Copperweld would emerge from bankruptcy at the earliest opportunity. It operates 17 facilities in the United States, Canada and Great Britain and employs approximately 2,900 people.

The LTV Corp., along with 48 subsidiaries, filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on Dec. 29, 2000.