Korea's POSCO team ups with GE on power plants

South Korea's POSCO and GE will jointly participate in the coming biddings to build new power plants or renovation projects in Korea and abroad.

POSCO will be responsible for the construction and operation of the facilities, while GE will provide related equipment such as turbines and boilers.

POSCO CEO Chung Joon-yang and GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt held their first official meeting at a Seoul hotel on Thursday to sign a memorandum of understanding to further extend cooperation on five key areas.

According to POSCO officials, the two global companies started talks on a potential partnership from July last year on the working-level, even though it was the first time for their leaders to meet in person.

The two groups plan to carry out infrastructure development projects in emerging markets, possibly starting with Southeast Asian countries.

The information and communications technology sector was also cited for their future joint business as they

“The MOU reflects GE’s growth strategy based on a long-term partnership with a Korean company. POSCO has also continued putting more emphasis on steel materials for energy and power plant projects,” POSCO said in a statement.

The MOU with POSCO came as GE, which has a varied business portfolio in healthcare, finance and electronics, is stressing the energy sector, which accounted for 31 percent of the company’s sales last year.

Following the acquisitions of Daewoo International and Sungjin Geotec recently, POSCO has expended its presence in global resource development and offshore plants while working on new steel plates for energy development.

The two companies plan to organize a joint committee which will carry out specific plans and monitor the progress on a regular basis, officials said.

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