# Tianjin Pipe Corporation

Tianjin Pipe (Group) Corporation Limited known as Tianjin Pipe (Chinese: 天津钢管) or its abbreviation TPCO, is the largest stemless steel pipe maker of China as well as one of the largest in the world.

## History

The predecessor of Tianjin Pipe was founded on 11 December 1987 (as Chinese: 天津无缝钢管总厂; lit. 'Tianjin Stemless Steel Pipe "Head" Factory'); it was one of the project in the Eighth Five-Year Plan of China. The factory was later incorporated as a limited company, under a law that was established in 1993. In 1999 the corporation (Chinese: 天津钢管集团有限责任公司; lit. 'Tianjin Steel Pipe Group Limited Liability Corporation') fall under control by the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China due to debt-to-equity swap, which the four state-owned asset management companies or bad banks, Huarong, Cinda, Great Wall and Orient Asset Management owned 100% stake. In 2003, 90% stake of TPCO was transferred to Tianjin Pipe Investment Holding (Chinese: 天津钢管投资控股有限公司), a company that was supervised by the Economic Commission (Chinese: 天津市经济委员会) of the Tianjin Government [zh]. In 2004, 57% stake of TPCO was transferred from Tianjin Pipe Investment Holding to TEDA Holding (Chinese: 天津泰达投资控股有限公司), a company that was supervised by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of Tianjin Government [zh]. In 2006 TPCO became a "company limited by shares" (Chinese: 天津钢管集团股份有限公司). In 2007 Bohai Industrial Investment Fund (Chinese: 渤海产业投资基金) acquired a minority stake of TPCO from Tianjin Pipe Investment Holding. In 2010 Tianjin Pipe Investment Holding became a subsidiary of Bohai Steel Group (Chinese: 渤海钢铁集团有限公司), another Tianjin SASAC supervising entity. In April 2016, due to the dissolution of Bohai Steel Group, the shares of Tianjin Pipe Investment Holding was transferred to Bohai State-owned Assets Administration Co., Ltd (Chinese: 天津渤海国有资产经营管理有限公司), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tianjin Jinlian Investment Holding (Chinese: 天津津联投资控股有限公司), another state-owned enterprise that was supervised by Tianjin SASAC.
TPCO had one of the largest Chinese industrial investment in the United States. TPCO America had a share capital of US$298,610,935.84, build a new plant located in Gregory, Texas. However, it was reported that TPCO signed a tax incentive deal with Gregory-Portland Independent School District (GPISD), which supposed requiring the subsidiary to employ local population. However, the company refused to do so, paying fines and request to cancel the deal instead.

## Joint Venture

Tianjin Pipe Corporation formed a joint venture (Chinese: 江苏天淮钢管有限公司) with Huaigang Special Steel. TPCO owned 60% stake. Huaigang sold the stake to a third part in 2015. Tianjin Pipe Corporation also formed two joint ventures Tianjin TISCO & TPCO Stainless Steel (Chinese: 天津太钢天管不锈钢) and Tianjin TPCO & TISCO Welding Pipe (Chinese: 天津天管太钢焊管) with Taigang Stainless Steel in a 35–65 ratio (via a subsidiary (Chinese: 天津大无缝投资) and 50-50 ratio respectively.

## Shareholders

    As of 21 April 2016
* State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Tianjin Government [zh] (84.27%)
** via wholly owned subsidiary TEDA Holding (57.00%)
** via wholly owned subsidiary Tianjin Pipe Investment Holding of Tianjin Bohai State-owned Assets Administration (27.27%)
* a consortium of the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China (10%)
** China Cinda Asset Management (6.11%)
** China Orient Asset Management (3.03%)
** China Great Wall Asset Management (0.43%)
** China Huarong Asset Management (0.43%)
* Bohai Industrial Investment Fund (5.73%)