(Yicai Global) April 3 -- Citic Pacific Special Steel Group, the world’s largest specialist steelmaker, has bought control of Nanjing Iron & Steel United, even though the latter’s top shareholder Fosun International had agreed to sell its stake to Jiangsu Shagang Group, China’s biggest private steel producer.

Citic Pacific Special Steel injected CNY13.6 billion (USD2 billion) into Nanjing Iron & Steel shareholder Nanjing Iron & Steel Group through its unit Hubei Xinyegang Steel, which now owns 55.3 percent of the group, Nanjing Iron & Steel, a Shanghai-listed arm of Nanjing Iron & Steel United, said yesterday.

Nanjing Iron & Steel Group then exercised its preemptive right and acquired the 60 percent stake it did not yet own in Nanjing Iron & Steel United from Fosun for CNY13.6 billion, the debt-laden Shanghai-based conglomerate announced yesterday.

Fosun announced on Oct. 19 that it had signed a framework agreement with Shagang to sell its stake in Nanjing Iron & Steel for about CNY16 million. On March 14, it agreed to lower the price because it received dividends of CNY1.8 billion (USD261.5 million) from Nanjing Iron & Steel.

Founded in 1992, Fosun has interests in a wide range of sectors, and bought into Nanjing Iron & Steel United in 2003. The conglomerate has sold stakes in companies, including Tsingtao Brewery, China New Life Insurance, and Yuyuan Tourist Mart Group, raising funds to boost its liquidity.

Nanjing Iron & Steel’s sale will help Fosun focus its resources on its key development strategies and projects, the firm added, noting that it is also an important step for Fosun’s plan to completely withdraw from the iron and steel industry.

Fosun also announced in January that it plans to sell its stakes in three other iron and steel companies to Beijing Jianlong Heavy Industry Group.

Editor: Futura Costaglione