Today, Bekaert and Xinsteel broke ground for a new production plant in Xinyu, Jiangxi Province, China.
The new plant, called Bekaert (Xinyu) New Materials Co., Ltd., will be located in Jiangxi Xinyu High-Tech Industrial Park Development Zone and will cover 75 000 m². It will house the spring wire manufacturing platform which is now located in two separate factories.
The plant is expected to come into operation in the third quarter of 2013, and will serve domestic customers mainly, with spring wires for various applications.
Bekaert formed a partnership with Xinyu Iron & Steel Co., Ltd (Xinsteel) in December 2011 through the set-up of a 50/50 joint venture, with the aim of combining their complementary technologies and applications to open up new opportunities in the markets.
Mr. Xiong Xiaoxing, Chairman of Xinsteel, said: “This new plant is a substantial step in our strategic partnership, and will create more business opportunities for Xinsteel in partnership with Bekaert. I am confident that our partnership will bring both of us leading positions in our markets.”
Mr. Mark Goyens, President Bekaert Asia, added: “It is particular meaningful for the establishment of Bekaert Xinyu New Materials Co. Ltd. and marks another big step forward in our long term China strategy since 20 years now. It also shows our commitment as well as our determination to better serve our customers in this market.”
Pictures available for download @ media.bekaert.com
About Bekaert
Bekaert (www.bekaert.com) is a global technological and market leader in advanced solutions based on metal transformation and coatings, and the world's largest independent manufacturer of drawn steel wire products. Bekaert (Euronext Brussels: BEKB) is a global company with headquarters in Belgium, employing 28 000 people worldwide. Serving customers in 120 countries, Bekaert pursues sustainable profitable growth in all its activities and generated combined sales of € 4.6 billion in 2011. In China, Bekaert is present with a manufacturing platform since the early nineties and now operates 20 sites within 17 legal entities at 10 locations there (Shenyang, Weihai, Jiangyin, Wuxi, Shanghai, Suzhou, Chongqing, Huizhou, Qingdao, Xinyu), employing approximately 10 000 people.
About Xinyu Steel
Xinyu Iron & Steel Co., Ltd (Xinsteel) is located in Xinyu, Jiangxi Province, China. The State Owned Enterprise includes steel, mining, equipment and construction activities. Xinyu Steel employs 28 000 people and reported total sales of CNY 40 billion in 2011.
Disclaimer
The foregoing release may contain forward-looking statements regarding the impact of the transaction on the financial statements of Bekaert. Such statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Bekaert is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Bekaert disclaims any liability for statements made or published by third parties and does not undertake any obligation to correct inaccurate data, information, conclusions or opinions published by third parties in relation to this or any other press release issued by Bekaert.