Outgoing chief Xie Qihua has been on a buying spree driven by her ambition to see Baosteel end up as one of a handful of giants left standing
IN 1978, CHINA'S biggest steel producer was a factory in Anshan in the northeast that was built by the Japanese in 1919. As it moved to modernise its industries, Beijing decided to build its first integrated steel complex in Baoshan on the northern outskirts of Shanghai.
That same year, a 35-year-old female engineer joined the Baoshan firm. Construction was due to be completed by 1982, then 1985 and finally 1988. Japanese firms that had their contracts cancelled called it a typical example of duplicitous Chinese business culture.
Less than 20 years later, the Baosteel Group has become the world's sixth-biggest steel producer and Xie Qihua, general manager since 1994 and chairman since 2000, one of the most powerful women in the world and among a few female chief executives in an industry dominated by men.
The group's assets have more than tripled from 39 billion yuan in 2000 to 142 billion at the end of last year and net profit quadrupled from three billion yuan in 2000 to 12.7 billion last year. For the first time, Chinese steelmakers led by Baosteel are this year leading talks with the world's three big iron ore producers to set global prices.
Ms Xie will step down this week as chairman at a meeting of Baosteel shareholders and will leave to her successor, Xu Lejiang, her target of making the company one of the top three in the world by 2010 and list it through a global offering.