Ansteel and Ben Gang, two of China’s major steel producers, will be merging into one corporation which will have an annual production capacity of 63 million tons of crude steel. Under a merger agreement signed on August 20, Ben Gang, who is currently owned by Liaoning Provincial, will donate 51% of the company’s shares to Ansteel, becoming its subsidiary. Both companies view the merger as a way of reorganising and boosting industrial capabilities.
Ansteel’s chairman of the board, Tan Chengxu, stated, “Through this reorganisation, we will implement an integrated resource use and coordinated development in areas such as research and development, procurement and sales and thereby contribute to the revival of Liaoning and the north-eastern part of the country as a whole. The transistion is a milestone in the development of Ansteel.”
The restructuring of both companies will be reviewed under China’s anti-monopoly regulation by related government departments. When it will be completed, Ansteel will have an annual production capacity of 63 million tons of crude steel, effectively making it the third in the world in terms of steel production after the Chinese Baowu Steel Group and ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg-based multinational steel manufacturing and mining corporation.
