Chinese steel producer Hebei Iron and Steel Company (Hebei Steel) has announced that it has received the approval of Hebei Province's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission regarding its planned issue of additional common shares.
As SteelOrbis reported previously, Hebei Steel is planning to raise up to RMB 16.015 billion ($2.3 billion) by issuing up to 3.8 billion new Shenzhen-listed shares, in order to purchase 100 percent of shares of Hanbao Steel which is currently under the control of state-owned Hebei Steel Group. With this move, more of the overall assets of the state-owned group will be injected into the listed company, i.e., Hebei Steel. In 2009, Hebei Steel Group merged its three subsidiaries, Handan Steel (of which Hanbao Steel is a subsidiary), Tangshan Steel and Chengde Xinxin Vanadium and Titanium, to form Hebei Steel.
In the first quarter of 2010 Hanbao Steel posted a net profit of RMB 112 million ($16 million), with its net profit for the whole of 2010 expected to be RMB 581 million ($85 million).