Vallourec

History

Vallourec's history started near the end of 19th century, after the Mannesmann's brothers discovered a process for rolling seamless steel tubes in Germany. French manufacturers then began to adopt this same method, as well as construct many industrial sites in Northern France and the Burgundy (Bourgogne) region. La Société Française des Corps Creux, located in Montbard, which was renamed Société Métallurgique de Montbard and listed on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1899, is one of the historic cornerstones of Vallourec. In 1907, Société Métallurgique de Montbard acquired a company in Aulnoye and changed its name to Société Montbard-Aulnoye.

During the 1920s and 1930s, many French industrial steel tube companies began to concentrate and specialize. In 1931, an industrial and commercial partnership was established between the factories in the cities of Valenciennes, Louvroil and Recquignies, forming a new company: Vallourec (using the first syllable of each city to create its name). In 1937, Société Montbard-Aulnoye and Société Louvroil et Recquignies merged as Société Louvroil Montbard-Aulnoye. Vallourec became the second largest steel tube manufacturer in France following the merger of the Société des Tubes de Valenciennes and the Société Louvroil-Montbard-Aulnoye, and was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1957.

In 1963, Vallourec launched the VAM joint. The VAM joint rapidly became a benchmark product in the petroleum industry. In 1967, Vallourec acquired the tube division of Lorraine-Escaut, its main competitor. During the 1970s, Vallourec built an integrated steel and tube plant in Saint-Saulve, and also, formed several industrial and commercial partnerships, one such being with the Japanese company Sumitomo (Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation – NSSMC) – the 3rd largest manufacturer of steel tubes worldwide. In 1984, Vallourec entered the United States market with the foundation of VAM PTS (Premium Threading Services), a joint venture between Vallourec and Sumimoto.

1997 represents a turning point for Vallourec, following an alliance with the German company Mannesmann-Röhrenwerke Vallourec became a world leader in the seamless steel tube market. This jointly owned company was named Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes (V&M Tubes). The newly formed group then continued to break into the international market with major acquisitions in both Brazil and the United States. The acquisition of North Star Steel, located in Youngstown, Ohio, considerably strengthened the company's presence in the United States.

In June 2005, Vallourec gained full control of V&M Tubes by purchasing Mannesmann-Röhrenwerke's 45% stake in the company. In 2006, following the purchase, the group entered the CAC 40 index, listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. Also, in that same year, following the acquisition of the American company OMSCO in September 2005, Vallourec became the world's second largest manufacturer of drill pipes. The drill pipe operations were regrouped under the name VAM Drilling, and in 2013 renamed Vallourec Drilling Products.