Tata Steel Europe, announced the acquisition of three service centres in Sweden, Finland and Norway to strengthen its offering to manufacturers in the Nordic region.

Tata Steel Europe has reached an agreement with steel producer SSAB to buy its strip products service centres at Halmstad in Sweden and Naantali in Finland. Tata Steel Europe will also acquire from SSAB the remaining 50% stake it does not already own in Norsk Stål Tynnplater AS, another strip products service centre based in Fredrikstad, Norway.

Karl Koehler, chief executive of Tata Steel Europe, said: “Tata Steel’s European operations have served customers in the Nordic steel markets for many years.

These acquisitions will strengthen our strip products offering to manufacturers in this region. Improving our local processing capability will significantly enhance our product offering and service levels to customers.

''There is a sophisticated and demanding customer base in the Nordic region which increasingly requires advanced steel products. Tata Steel Europe is committed to developing these innovative steel products which give our customers a competitive edge. Just last week, we announced the launch of our 100th new product in our revitalised new product development programme.''

''We are also looking forward to welcoming new colleagues to our European steel business.''

Shares of the company gained Rs 1.8, or 0.49%, to trade at Rs 366.90. The total volume of shares traded was 178,472 at the BSE (10.48 a.m., Friday).