Germany’s Siemens and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have signed an agreement to establish a joint-venture company for steel and metal production machinery, which has been subjected to regulatory approvals.
The agreement will see the two companies cooperate in the field of metallurgical industry by forming a globally operating complete provider for plants, products and services for the iron, steel and aluminium industry to achieve expansion of the product line in the steel and metal production machinery business and acceleration of globalisation plans.
According to the agreement, the joint venture will be 51% owned by Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery Inc., an MHI group company, while Siemens will hold a 49% stake in the business, which is expected to commence operations in January 2015.
A press release issued by Siemens reveals that the new joint venture will employ approximately 9000 workers across six regional bases in Japan, Germany, China and the United States and will be fully focused on business with iron-, steel- and aluminium-producing industry.
The new joint venture — which is to be headquartered in the UK — will combine the strengths of the two partners by utilising Siemens’ expertise in iron and steel production, casting, automation, environmental technologies and lifecycle services and MHI’s proficiency in hot and cold rolling and processing, as well as production expertise.
