Hall Longmore sold to privately owned Barnes Group following a successful conclusion to negotiations and final approval by the Competition Commission.
Murray and Roberts has disposed of its Hall Longmore pipe, pilings and structural steel business to the Barnes Group.
This follows the sale of its steel business in 2012 and the rolling stock manufacturer, Union Carriage and Wagon last year.
It had earlier said that there was a limited strategic fit between those businesses and the group’s growth aspirations in engineering and construction.
It said that Hall Longmore’s fixed assets were sold at net book value, and that this would be realised by the group over the next few months.
Hall Longmore was the only remaining company to be disposed of in Murray and Roberts’ Construction Products Africa operating platform. The unit consists of firms that supply goods such as asphalt, manufactured concrete products and clay bricks.
Most of the businesses in Construction Products Africa were disposed of in June last year. The JSE-listed group said it was “pleased” with the outcome of the disposal and the value achieved.
“Hall Longmore is a world class facility. We are delighted with the acquisition, it’s in good health and has an envious order book given current market conditions. It features up-to-date pipe mills and corrosion protection coating and lining applications. The companies pedigree is further endorsed by the American Petroleum Institute (API), ISO 9001:2008, BS OHSAS 18001:2007 and ISO 14001 certification,” said Kenny van Rooyen, newly appointed managing director of Hall Longmore.
According to van Rooyen, Hall Longmore is amongst a handful of leading international steel pipe manufacturers capable of producing Electric Resistance Welded (ERW) pipe up to 610 mm diameter and to the American Petroleum Institute (API) 5L standard. Hall Longmore manufactured and supplied 720 kilometres of ERW pipe for the Durban to Johannesburg Transnet multi product pipeline to this standard.
The company is currently manufacturing and processing pipe for a number of water projects: Rand Water, Amatola Water, Umkhayakude District Municipality, Bloem Water and Medupi Power Station. The most recent contract awarded is for the Pilansberg Water Scheme. The project comprises approximately 43 km’s of 950 mm diameter pipe for Pilansberg North and 43 km’s of 1016 mm diameter pipe for Pilansberg South. The specification calls for spirally welded steel pipe coated with Sintakote® a fusion bonded medium density polyethylene and lined with a cement mortar lining.
“The company is committed to sustain the established upgrade and capacity building programme. This discipline has entrenched its position as the largest specialist manufacturer of large bore welded steel pipes, coatings and linings in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Van Rooyen commenting further on the Hall Longmore facilities located in Wadeville and Duncanville.
As a result, Hall Longmore has enjoyed continued success with supplying pipe products to a number of large international and Southern African projects for the transportation of water, gas and petro-chemicals. To this end, Hall Longmore is committed to being a strategic partner in the growth of the South African economy.
