BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese steelmaker HBIS Group agreed to buy 70 percent of Indian conglomerate Tata Steel's projects in Southeast Asian countries on Monday, which is considered a "smart move" by experts, China Daily reported Tuesday.
HBIS, the world's third-largest steelmaker by output, will take over Tata Steel's projects in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, in order to maximize opportunities in the region on technology, channels and management.
"Through the talks, we found that HBIS and Tata Steel share the same view on the world steel industry's future, which is the foundation of our cooperation," the newspaper quoted Yu Yong, president of HBIS Group, as saying.
HBIS will seize the opportunities offered by the growing steel demand in Southeast Asia, Yu added.
Xu Xiangchun, information director and analyst with iron and steel industry consultancy mysteel.com, said Southeast Asia has been a popular destination for steel investment in recent years because of the large population and its fast economic growth, the newspaper reported.
According to mysteel.com, the steel shortage in Southeast Asia is around 100 million metric tons annually, and the region depends on imports.
TV Narendran, chief executive officer and managing director of Tata Steel, said he is confident that the steel projects in Southeast Asia will continue to grow in the future after the investment, the newspaper reported.
"Tata Steel shares the same culture with HBIS and we will explore more cooperative possibilities in future," he said.
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