Usha Siam Steel Industries Limited, a subsidiary of Usha Martin in Thailand, has formed an equal joint venture in Thailand with TESAC Wire ropes, a Japanese wire rope company of Kobe Steel Group.
The new company has been named TESAC Usha Wire Rope Company.
The JV will have an annual capacity of 12,000 tonnes of high-performance steel wire ropes used in elevator and cranes.
It aims to meet the growing demand of the Japanese elevator makers in the ASEAN region. As per the agreement signed on November 27, TESAC and Usha Martin group will have 50:50 shareholding in the JV.
A new plant will be set up at an investment of $17 million adjacent to Usha Siam’s existing plant in the Pathum Thani’s Navanakorn Industrial Estate in Thailand. The plant will be operational in 2014.
Usha Siam, located in Bangkok, was set up in 1980 and with an annual production of about 36,000 tonnes of wire rope, auto cables, strands and specialty wires has market leadership in Thailand.
Usha Martin is a leading wire rope and specialty steel producer.
TESAC Wire Rope, a Kobe Steel group company, is a well established wire rope company in Japan and among the leaders in the elevator rope market.
Its Nishikinohama factory, Osaka, is the newest and the biggest wire rope factory in Japan, a Usha Martin release said.
The JV with Usha Siam will be TESAC’s first manufacturing base outside Japan. Both companies have been working together for more than a decade and aim to strengthen their relationship through the joint venture.