'China should relax control on steel cos'
Identifying China as a key market for future growth, NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has said he hoped that the Communist nation would relax its control over foreign ownership of steel companies there.
By PTI |
LONDON: Identifying China as a key market for future growth, NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has said he hoped that the Communist nation would relax its control over foreign ownership of steel companies there.
Mittal said he was keen to see some progress by Beijing in allowing non-Chinese companies to take controlling stakes in specific steel companies.
"I'd hope some day the Chinese government would allow this (foreign ownership) to happen, perhaps in the next two years," Mittal said in an interview published in the Financial Times on Tuesday.
Arcelor-Mittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, sees Asia as presenting some of the most exciting opportunities for both organic and acquisitive growth. China accounts for almost one third of global steel production and consumption.
The Indian billionaire is aware that this is a sensitive topic for Beijing, which views steel as strategically important, both because it is keen to build up strong local companies and because of the huge role of steel in allowing China's economy to continue its infrastructure-based expansion.
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