Tubos Reunidos moves to liquidate listed parent as five bidders circle its Basque seamless tube plants

What happened

In an inside information filing to the CNMV dated 20 October, Tubos Reunidos S.A. (TRSA) said its board decided on 19 October, in agreement with the insolvency administrator, to ask the court that day to open the liquidation phase of the company. It gave two reasons: no bidder in the sale process had shown interest in TRSA’s shares, and an agreement with creditors was not possible.

The group’s insolvency page for investors adds that the court must rule within a maximum of 10 days. It says the possible opening of liquidation will not close the plants or change the sale of the group’s production units. That sale continues with the aim of finding a buyer that keeps the plants running, saves as many jobs as possible and pays the highest price. Europa Press reported the same message from an internal note to staff.

The group has been in insolvency since the spring. It filed for voluntary insolvency on 4 May. The court in Vitoria-Gasteiz declared the subsidiaries insolvent on 11 May, including Tubos Reunidos Group, which runs the plants in Amurrio and Trápaga (Trapagaran) (Spanish judiciary). The listed parent followed on 17 June. PKF Attest Concursal is the administrator in all cases.

The five bids

On 16 October the company and the administrator picked five bidders to move to the next stage and published an anonymised summary of the offers. According to that table:

• Bidder A offers €1 for all companies under the listed parent (excluding TRSA and one other company), with fallback offers of €1 for the operating business with or without the US units.
• Bidder B offers €1 million for the Trápaga unit.
• Bidder C offers €100,000 for Trápaga, with a fallback of €1 for Trápaga and Amurrio together.
• Bidder D offers €27.5 million for Trápaga only.
• Bidder E offers €1 for Trápaga and Amurrio.

All five commit to taking over staff, but all plan to cut jobs and change working conditions. Details are due in later stages. None offers interim financing at this stage. The bidders are not named officially. elDiario.es and Cinco Días reported that they include Sidenor and India’s Welspun.

How it got here

In its 2025 results, also reported by Europa Press, the group reported 2025 revenue of €365.7 million, EBITDA of minus €22.8 million and a net loss of €118.1 million. Net financial debt was €263.2 million at the end of the year. The company blamed mainly the rise in the US tariff on steel imports to 50% from June 2025, which cut its US sales of oil country tubular goods (OCTG). It also cited rising low-cost tube imports into Europe, especially from Ukraine and China. According to Cinco Días and elDiario.es, the largest single creditor is the state holding company SEPI, owed about €150 million.

Why it matters for steel buyers

Analysis Tubos Reunidos is one of the few independent seamless tube producers in the EU that make their own steel. It makes seamless tube in carbon, alloy and stainless grades. A sale at €1 for most of the bids means the buyers are taking on the plants and their losses, not paying for earnings. Expect a narrower product range, fewer staff and a focus on the products that make money.

Analysis The main risk for buyers is Amurrio. It holds the main plant and the melt shop, but three of the five main offers cover only Trápaga. If Trápaga is sold without Amurrio, it would need hollows or steel from elsewhere. Products made from EU-melted steel matter more under the new EU tariff quotas and melt-and-pour rules (see our guide).

Analysis It is the second European seamless mill whose ownership is in play this month, after the EU cleared Tenaris’s purchase of Artrom in Romania (see our report). Buyers who rely on Tubos Reunidos for approved grades or project tube should check open orders and delivery dates, and line up a second qualified supplier.

Who is affected

• Buyers of seamless tube for energy, boilers, process plant and mechanical uses: risk to delivery dates, product range and approvals during the sale.
• Stockists and distributors in Spain and the EU: may need other mills for sizes and grades that a new owner drops.
• Competing EU seamless mills: may win orders while the sale is uncertain.
• Shareholders of TRSA: the listed parent received no offers and is heading for liquidation.

What to watch

• Court order: due within 10 days of the 20 October request.
• Meeting with workers’ representatives: set for 21 October to review the offers.
• Next stage of bids: whether the final offers include Amurrio and its melt shop, and what job cuts they set out.
• SEPI debt: how the state loan is treated, which matters for any buyer.

Sources

Primary sources

• Inside information: request to open liquidation of Tubos Reunidos, S.A. — Tubos Reunidos filing to the CNMV (Spanish), 20 October 2026
• Insolvency proceedings: 20 October 2026 update — Tubos Reunidos investor page, 20 October 2026
• Anonymised comparison of offers received — Tubos Reunidos / insolvency administration (Spanish), 16 October 2026
• Results note, second half 2025 — Tubos Reunidos (Spanish), 27 March 2026
• Key figures — Tubos Reunidos website
• Court declares seven Tubos Reunidos companies insolvent — Consejo General del Poder Judicial (Spanish), May 2026

Supporting sources

• Tubos Reunidos solicita la apertura de la fase de liquidación de su matriz ante la falta de ofertas — Europa Press, 20 October 2026
• Tres de las ofertas por Tubos Reunidos mantendrían las plantas de Amurrio y Trápaga, pero con menos plantilla — elDiario.es, 16 October 2026
• Las cinco ofertas por Tubos Reunidos incluyen reducción de plantilla — Cinco Días, 16 October 2026
• Tubos Reunidos pierde 118,1 millones en 2025 por los aranceles — Europa Press, 27 March 2026

Related on Loharo

• EU clears Tenaris’s €86 million purchase of Romanian seamless tube maker Artrom
• EU steel tariff quotas three months in: 50% duty, melt-and-pour proof and what buyers need to know

Last fact-check: 20 October 2026 (Europe/Amsterdam).