ArcelorMittal Recalibrates Agreement With Hunan Valin Steel To Increase Exposure To Fast Growing Automotive Market

ArcelorMittal and the Valin Group today announce that ArcelorMittal will increase its shareholding in the downstream automotive steel joint venture, VAMA (Valin ArcelorMittal Automotive), from 33% to 49%. VAMA is focused on establishing itself as a premier supplier of high-strength steels and value-added products for China's fast growing automotive market. In-line with the new shareholding agreement, Valin and ArcelorMittal will increase their planned capacity by 25% from 1.2 million tons to 1.5 million tons. Capital investment will also increase by 15% to RMB 5.2 billion and VAMA has signed purchase agreements totalling RMB 1.8 billion for key equipment including cold rolling facilities, continuous annealing and galvanizing lines. The joint venture is expected to become operational in the first half of 2014.