Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) has announced that it has decided to sell 34.1 percent of the shares it holds in South Korean steel producer POSCO in accordance with various measures NSSMC is taking to strengthen its competitiveness and to expand its overseas business, and also taking into account proposed asset reductions and other programs designed to improve its financial structure. NSSMC will decide the timing of the sale after taking into consideration market conditions and other factors. After the sale, NSSMC will retain a 3.32 percent stake in POSCO.
NSSMC also stated that the strategic alliance between the two companies in many fields, such as research and development, technology exchange, raw materials procurement, and mutual supply of steel slabs, will remain unchanged, and cooperative measures pursuant to the strategic alliance will continue to bear further results in the future. Meanwhile, the partial sale will not materially affect NSSMC’s consolidated result of operations.