Posted on 01 Apr 2019
Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc., the second largest nickel producer in the Philippines, is teaming up with a Hong Kong-based company to invest $20 million in a steel manufacturing facility in the country.
GFNI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it was tying up with Huarong Asia Limited (Huarong) to build a rebar steel rolling plant with an annual output of about 600,000 tons of bar.
GFNI president Dante Bravo said in a text message the group was looking at Mindanao or Luzon as the potential site for the planned steel rebar facility. The proposed plant will be completed 18 months after start of construction.
Given the fast-growing steel demand in the country propelled by local infrastructure developments, GFNI said it was exploring value-added opportunities by diversifying into the steel processing.
Huarong is headed by a veteran businessman with over 25 years of experience in the stainless steel business.
GFNI would incorporate two new companies, FNI Steel Corp. and FNI Landholdings Corp., to implement the project.
