A source from POSCO Vietnam told the English language daily Viet Nam News via email that the investment licence has been changed to allow Nippon Steel to hold 15 percent in the project. The source noted that the acquisition of a 15 percent stake fulfills an agreement inked last October under which Nippon Steel had agreed to aquire something between 10 percent and 20 percent in the mill.

The Japanese firm’s intended investment would total around 37 million USD, according to a statement from Nippon Steel issued following the October agreement. The mill is part of POSCO’s larger 1.3 billion USD steel plant development in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, including hot and cold-rolling mills. The cold-rolled steel plant is slated for completion in October of this year and to reach a capacity of a million tonnes per year by the second half of 2010.

The investment by the Japanese partner was in furtherance of a strategic alliance between Nippon Steel and POSCO, said the source. “We expect to obtain human resources from Nippon Steel,” the source said.