China Development Bank contributes to a syndicated loan to TPCO American Corporation for the Gregory, Texas Steel Pipe Factory Project

Project narrative

Circa 2013, a two-bank syndicate of China Development Bank Corporation (CDB) and the New York Branch of the Bank of China (BOC) entered into a U.S. dollar-denominated syndicated loan agreement with TPCO American Corporation — a Delaware-incorporated company majority-owned by TEDA Investment Holding Co., Ltd. (57% stake) and other Chinese interests — for the Gregory, Texas Steel Pipe Factory Project. Record ID#111098 captures CDB's contribution. Record ID#111099 captures BOC's contribution. The proceeds were to be used to finance the construction of a $1 billion USD 500,000 ton-annually state-art-of-the-art seamless steel pipe manufacturing facility on a 410-acre site east of Gregory, San Patricio County, Texas, consisting of an end finishing facility for plain-ended (green pipe) to turn into casing pipe for oil and gas production and a rolling mill to use raw steel bullets to produce plain end pipe for the end facility. Construction on the end finishing facility began in August 2011 and was completed in 2014. The rolling mill construction began in mid-2014 and was expected for mid-2016, then postponed to 2019 due to a drop in oil prices, and was eventually completed. Jacobs Engineering won a contract from Tianjin Pipe (Group) Corporation for engineering, procurement, and construction. The project was advertised as improving domestic energy security and domestic manufacturing output. The project was also claimed to be environmentally friendly and highly advanced. In February 2023, it was reported that Tianjin Pipe Corp. was considering selling the Gregor, Texas steel mill.