South Korea’s top steelmaker POSCO said Wednesday that it has consolidated two of its local units in Mexico as a part of streamlining the firm’s businesses both at home and abroad.

In a regulatory filing, POSCO said it recently merged the two companies in Mexico, both of which were 100 percent owned by POSCO America. 


The move is in line with the steel manufacturer’s ongoing reform efforts to restructure itself through asset sales and business consolidation to slim down and aim for more efficient business practices.

The overhaul plan involves POSCO selling stakes in 19 firms, including 13 overseas businesses.

“The business consolidation in Mexico is intended to remove possible overlapping factors and the resulting waste factors, thereby helping improve the overall financial status,” a POSCO official said.

POSCO has been strengthening its foothold in Mexico since its local office opened in 1981. It also operates four plants there that produce mostly cold-rolled steel used in vehicles.

Suffering from dwindling demand amid an oversupply, POSCO posted 96 billion won ($83 million) in net losses on a consolidated basis in 2015 to mark a sharp decline from a net profit of 557 billion won a year earlier.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)