TPi November 2013

business & market news

Merfish acquires assets of BBL Merfish Pipe & Supply, Co has announced that a wholly owned affiliate has purchased the assets of BBL Company. Supply is a wholly owned subsidiary of Merfish Pipe Holdings, LLC, which is majority owned by One Equity Partners, the private equity arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

of the assets of BBL, a south-eastern Pennsylvania-based distributor of steel pipe and tubing, marks a new and exciting chapter for Merfish as we bring our industry leading master distribution of steel pipe, fittings and flanges to the north-eastern USA.” Bob Rau of BBL, Inc remarked, “My team and I are thrilled to now be working with a company with such a wonderful reputation as Merfish. We look forward to helping Merfish establish itself in the north-eastern USA steel pipe market.” Merfish’s primary end markets include commercial construction, industrial construction, residential construction and steel/structural fabrication.

BBL Company, founded in 1971, is a distributor of steel pipe and tubing, serving the greater Pennsylvania and New Jersey area. It is an authorised distributor of US Steel and Wheatland Tube. Products distributed by BBL include carbon, alloy, stainless steel, nickel and aluminium pipe/tube in sizes 1 / 8 " to 24". Merfish is a 93-year-old distributor of carbon steel pipe, fittings and flanges, serving distributors in the USA. Its products include carbon steel welded and seamless standard pipe, carbon steel seamless pipe fittings and carbon steel forged flanges. Merfish Pipe &

Merfish Pipe Holdings is also the owner of Pipe Exchange, a distributor of carbon steel API line pipe primarily to end users across the energy exploration end markets in and east of the Rocky Mountains. Pipe Exchange’s products include carbon steel ERW API line pipe, carbon steel seamless API line pipe, and carbon steel API line pipe coated for underground installation. Its primary end markets include energy exploration and gathering for oil, dry natural gas and natural gas liquids.

Merfish Pipe & supply – USA www.merfish.com

Gerald Merfish, CEO of Merfish Holdings, commented, “Our acquisition

IPP appoints technical directors and project manager

these promotions bode well for the future.”

IPPGroup (International PipingProducts) has appointed Andrew Rigby and Paul Tolen as joint technical directors. The appointments cover the full technical and quality aspects of IPP manufacturing operations in the UK. Mr Rigby joined the company as technical sales manager for IPP Mardale in March 2012, combining the role with that of group metallurgy and technical product development, utilising his industry-recognised qualifications in engineering and metallurgy and eight years’ technical experience in the oil and gas industry. Mr Tolen was appointed IPP Mardale QA manager and IPP group QA manager in April 2012, having spent three years at IPP Mardale developing his knowledge of quality systems, and was instrumental in ensuring full compliance with stringent customer specifications. industry-recognised qualifications in mechanical engineering and quality systems. He has

The IPP Group’s recruitment drive continues with the appointment of Charlie Snow as project manager. Mr Snow has 18 years’ industry experience in production planning, customer service systems and responsibility for ISO 9001:2008 quality systems. He also has a strong background in health and safety and holds an accredited leadership qualification (ILM). Based at IPP Group’s headquarters, his role will be project manager for IPP Europe’s key accounts in the oil and gas industry, both topside and subsea. He will also work alongside the expanding commercial department to develop new strategies in emerging markets. The IPP Group is a worldwide supplier of pipes, tubes, fittings, flanges and specialist forgings for the gas, petro- chemical, oil and nuclear industries.

IPP project manager Charlie Snow

IPP Group CEO Jared Ayres commented, “Andrew and Paul have fantastic technical knowledge and their application to their roles over the past twelve months has been admirable. Their combined skills will give the IPP Group a leading edge in this most important field. We always aim to be one step ahead of our competition and

IPP Group – UK sales@ippgrp.com www.ippgrp.com

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Tube ProducTs INTerNaTIoNal November 2013

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