Thai mills NSM and Sicos agree on a merger

Thai mills NSM and Sicos agree on a merger

Under a deal controlled by the major creditor of both companies, Thai mills Nakornthai Strip Mill (NSM) and Siam Integrated Cold rolled Steel (SICOS) have reached an agreement to merge. The president of Thai Asset Management (TAMC), the major creditor of both companies, stated that Nakornthai Strip Mill would be the core for the merger, buying out production machinery from Siam Integrated. The government in Thailand backs the consolidation of the steel industry and merging of steel mills as this is seen as a solution to the oversupply problem. The mergers are also seen as a way to become more competitive. SICOS had invested Baht 9 billion in a fully-integrated cold rolled steel plant with annual capacity of 500'000 tons. NSM has an annual hot-rolled steel production capacity at around 1.2 million tons, but it has not been operating since 1997 due to the economic crisis.