Wuhan Iron and Steel (Wusteel), China's fourth largest steelmaker, aims to achieve 95% self-sufficiency in iron ore by 2016 if its private placement plan is successful and various acquisitions go ahead, says Peng Chen, Director of the steelmaker.
Wusteel plans to raise a maximum of RMB 15bn ($2.4bn) via a private placement to buy assets from its parent company the Wuhan I&S Group. The steelmaker said it would issue up to 4.2bn new shares at no less than RMB 3.6 per share ($0.57) to no more than 10 investors, including its majority shareholder Wuhan I&S Group.
The Shanghai-listed steelmaker will use the proceeds from the placement to buy mining assets from the parent, including overseas iron ore mines in Brazil and Australia.
Peng said that if the deal went well, the company's annual iron ore capacity would reach 95.3Mt in 2020, of which iron ore capacity with overseas mining interest stood at 47.8Mt.
Source: China Metals e-mail [email protected]