金狮的动向

LeeRC

June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Lion Diversified Holdings Bhd., a Malaysian retailing and property group, plans to spend 1 billion ringgit ($294 million) in Vietnam to expand its steel business, Chairman William Cheng said.

The investment will start ``12 months from now,'' and will be funded by the sale of the company's properties, Cheng said in an interview in Singapore.

``The company has the expertise in steel manufacturing and it would make sense to establish a factory in close proximity to the demand for its output,'' said David Blennerhassett, an analyst at KE Absolute in Hong Kong. ``The Vietnamese economy is booming.''

Lion Diversified plans to focus on the steel business and is in the midst of selling its retail assets to Amalgamated Containers Bhd. The expansion in Vietnam may help to meet the Southeast Asian country's need for steel as investment surges. Vietnam's economy expanded 7.7 percent in the first quarter, from 7.2 percent in the same period last year.

The government is targeting growth this year of 8.5 percent, faster than the 8.2 percent pace reported in 2006.

Imports of steel jumped 64.7 percent to $1.7 billion in the five months through May, the General Statistics Office in Hanoi said on May 28.

``Vietnam's steel needs are supplied 90 percent'' by imports, Cheng said. ``Hopefully we will have 1 billion ringgit, then we can start. We are thinking of blast furnaces, converters, casters.''

Lion is also keen to set up steel factories in Indonesia and Cambodia, he said. It may also consider increasing its stake in Polaris Metals NL, an Australian minerals explorer.