Aju takeover lifts Korea's Dongkuk CM to coated steel giant

South Korean cold-rolled coil and coated sheet producer Dongkuk Coated Metal (Dongkuk CM) has formally acquired a controlling stake in smaller domestic rival Aju Steel, to lift its coated steel production capacity to 1.23 million tonnes/year a capacity that Korean sources say will make it the world's largest dedicated producer of coated steel.

Dongkuk CM, established in 1972 and a pioneer of pre-painted sheets and coils in Korea, had announced in August last year that it was acquiring a controlling 56.6% stake in Aju, then Korea's fourth-largest maker of coated sheets with a capacity of 280,000 t/y, for KRW 128.5 billion ($93