Bekaert’s Chinese subsidiary experiences change of share ownership

Bekaert China was reportedly completed the purchase of equities in a steel cord producer, which was jointly established with Ansteel Group, from the latter in Apr. and changed its name.

The name of the company has changed from Ansteel Bekaert Tire Cord (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. to Bekaert (Chongqing) Steel Cord Co., Ltd..

Divestment by Ansteel Group

Established in Sept. 2008, Ansteel Bekaert was jointly invested by Ansteel Group and Bekaert (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., with registered capital of 28.5 million U.S. dollars.

Each of the two invested 14.25 million dollars and the registered capital were all they had invested.

As of Aug. 31, 2016, the joint venture’s total assets were 584.2 million yuan, including liabilities of 584.46 million yuan and shareholders’ equities of 610,000 yuan.

Ansteel decided to transfer the 50% stake it held for industrial structural adjustment reason.

Considering the investment and capital costs, Ansteel sold the equities via property rights transfer agency and set the reserve price at 125 million yuan.

Bekaert immediately purchased the other half of equities after Ansteel’s divestment.

So far, the steel cord producer has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Bekaert as well as the only tire steel cord company set up by Bekaert in west China. 

Capital increase and capacity expansion

In the first five months of this year, Bekaert (Chongqing) Steel Cord’s output and sales hit record highs.

To further expand capacity, the company invested 63 million yuan to expand the Chongqing plant, which is expected to be completed by end-Jul. and start pilot production.

After the expansion, the annual capacity of the Chongqing plant will increase to 50,000 tons from existing 38,000 tons.