The Australian reports Fortescue Metals’ Chinese shareholder Hunan Valin Steel plans to triple its capacity through mergers and capital investment and is eyeing a listing on the Hong Kong stockmarket to raise up to $1.68bn.
The Chinese government last month began another push to consolidate the country’s fractured steel industry and is planning to create six or seven mega-groups with the aim of boosting its negotiating power with iron ore giants including miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. Hunan Valin is considered second-tier at the moment but wants to push production to over 30m tonnes/year, similar to industry behemoth Baosteel.
Valin was the first Chinese steelmaker to take a large stake in an Australian iron ore miner, paying $US1.27bn ($1.18bn) for a 17.4 per cent stake in Fortescue Metals Group at the start of 2009.