NKK Corp. and Kawasaki Steel Corp. (KSC) have agreed to consolidate their entire businesses, including their subsidiary companies. The two companies will establish a joint holding company by October 2002 and will become 100 percent subsidiaries. By April 2003, final integration will be conducted for each business segment, and full consolidation will be completed. Share exchange ratios to form the holding company will be determined by NKK and KSC through third party evaluations.This is the first consolidation of Japan's major steelmakers in more than 30 years since Nippon Steel Corp. (NSC) was set up by the integration. NKK and KSC will be forming another Japanese steelmaking giant to compete with NSC. Domestic crude steel production of the newly consolidated company will be 26 million metric tons/year -the second largest after NSC. Including the crude steel production of NKK's overseas subsidiary - National Steel Corp. - total annual crude steel production of the new consolidated company is estimated to be 32 million metric tons on the basis of the year 2000 production, which is much more than that of NSC (29 million metric tons/year). The new holding company will be the second largest steelmaker in the world since the merger of Usinor; Arbed and Aceralia.
展开▼
