China’s steel manufacturers Ansteel Group and Ben Gang officially started the process to merge their businesses last Friday (August 20). After this merger, it will become the world’s third-largest steel producer.
The state-owned Ansteel takes 51% of the stake in Ben Gang from the regional state assets regulator. It will be part of the government’s plan of restructuring to consolidate production in the steel sector.
Ansteel will have an annual production capacity of crude steel of 63 million tons after the combination of the operations in northeast China’s Liaoning province.
Ansteel will takeover HBIS’s position and become China’s second-largest steelmaker, and it will become the third-largest steelmaker in the world behind China’s Baowu Group and ArcelorMittal.