Posted on 10 Jun 2020
Malaysia’s Lion Industries Group and its subsidiary Amsteel Mills plan to sell their stakes in hot-briquetted iron producer Antara Steel Mills to Singapore-registered Esteel Enterprise. The deal comes as China’s HBI imports have surged, Kallanish notes.
Antara is in the midst of a restructuring which will have to be completed before the sale proceeds. The deal is reportedly worth $128 million and includes only the HBI plant in Labuan, an island off the coast of Sabah. It does not include the steel plant Antara Johor, which is being integrated into Lion Group.
Esteel Enterprise is the holding company of Singapore-based trader and fabricator BRC Asia, and an affiliate of Chinese iron ore trader RGL.
The move comes as China has looked to boost imports of alternative iron units. China’s DRI/HBI imports surged 370% year-on-year over the first four months of 2020 to 1.05 million tonnes, Chinese customs data show. That included a 152% y-o-y increase in imports from Malaysia to 163,279t.
