Steelmaker ups stake in shipyard

JFE Holdings Inc, the world’s third-biggest steelmaker, will spend 30-40 billion yen ($289-$385 million) to take control of a shipbuilding joint venture according to reports in the Nikkei business daily.

The move, which will lift JFE’s stake in the venture with Hitachi Zosen Corp to 85%, up from 50%, paves the way for JFE to merge its shipbuilding business with that of heavy machinery maker IHI Corp. The venture, Universal Shipbuilding, is Japan’s second-largest ship builder, and the merger with IHI’s operations would create the world’s sixth-largest shipbuilding firm.

It would have annual sales of more than $3 billion and an annual production of about 3 million tonnes. JFE and IHI said in January they were in talks to merge their shipbuilding operations.