WUXI, China – Jiangsu General Science Technology (GST) is raising capital through private placement to fund a fully automated smart plant with a projected annual capcity of 1.2 million truck and bus tires.
The company said it plans to raise up to $206 million (1.3 billion yuan) funds, all of which will be pumped into the new plant with $235 million total investment.
"We are a strong player in the replacement market…and our products have been in short supply," GST said. "The traditional production process, dependent on manpower, has higher labor cost, lower efficiency and cannot guarantee stability in product quality."
The new plant, pending further regulatory approval, is located at GST's existing site in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, and will take 15 months to complete. It's expected to generate $66 million in annual profits on $470 million sales when in full operation.
Last year General Science reported a 12-percent rise in revenue to $695 million, nearly 90 percent of which coming from the domestic market. Net profit dropped 13 percent to $26.5 million due to rising raw materials prices.