Man of steel

By LIU WEILING and DIAO YING (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-14 17:10

He also foresees that domestic demand for steel will shrink as policies tighten on real estate development.

His factory now has a capacity of almost 15 million tons of steel, and the man who well knows government policies is aware that it will be impossible to expand by building another factory.

Mergers and acquisitions are now an alternative strategy to reach his production goals of 25 million tons by 2010 and over 35 million by 2020.

Shagang purchased Jiangsu Huaigang Steel Co Ltd for $250 million in 2006. Although he declines to reveal what the next target might be, Shen says that his acquisition roadmap is to start with the nearer, easier and smaller steel makers.

While his plan sounds feasible, rooms in Shagang's cafeteria are labelled with bigger names and bigger dreams like Mittal and Arcelor.

"It is not impossible to go out and acquire a foreign steel mill when the right time comes," he says.


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