Mittal Steel on Friday announced that it had bought a 37.17 stake in Hunan Valin Steel Tube Wire, a subsidiary of Hunan Valin Iron & Steel of China for $314 million.
The deal was the first large investment by a non-Chinese steelmaker. Hunan Valin, which is China's sixth largest steel maker, produces 7 million tonnes a year.
Non-resident Indian business tycoon Lakshmi N Mittal is the chairman and chief executive officer of Mittal Steel.
In October, 2004, Ispat International, owned by Mittal, became the world's largest steelmaker as it announced its merger with The Netherlands-based LNM Holdings and US International Steel Group to form Mittal Steel Corporation.
Ispat said it has agreed to acquire LNM Holdings for $13.3 billion in shares and the International Steel Group for $4.5 billion in cash and shares.
The combined Mittal Steel is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Euronext Amsterdam.
LNM Holdings is one of the world's largest and most profitable steel companies and also has substantial mining assets. Its revenues were $9.9 billion and operating income was $3.2 billion in the first nine months of 2004.
The company has annual total raw steel production capacity of over 32 million tonnes and owns significant mining assets, annually producing about 18 million metric tonnes of iron ore, 13 million metric tonnes of coke and 12 million metric tonnes of coal.
