Posco pursues $30 billion expansion to catch China

Posco pursues $30 billion expansion to catch China. Posco, Asia’s most profitable steelmaker, is set to report the highest net income in six quarters as prices recover. Further growth depends on $30 billion in overseas expansion. Chief Executive Officer Chung Joon Yang last week added plans for a $7 billion plant in India’s Karnataka state to a $12 billion project in Orissa in the south Asian nation and a $6 billion Indonesian plant. Together with an investment in Vietnam, the South Korea-based company may leap from fifth-place to regain its spot as Asia’s largest steelmaker. Chung, 61, who took the helm in February, wants to regain ground lost to China’s Baosteel Group Corp. Three years of delay at the Orissa project and slowing domestic growth weighed on the stock, with Posco lagging behind ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest mill. “Posco has to show that it is a growing company,” said Kim Do Joon, a Seoul-based fund manager who helps manage $1.5 billion of assets including Posco shares at Hanwha Investment Trust Management Co. “They cannot expect a growth momentum from the local market.”