JEDDAH — Posco reportedly is set to sell a stake of at least 30% in its engineering and construction unit for 1 trillion won ($920 million) to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, with a deal expected to be signed by end of this month or sometime next month. Posco currently operates two integrated steel mills in South Korea, as well as a joint venture with US Steel in California. Daewoo International, a trading subsidiary of Posco, held a job fair solely to recruit personnel for the establishment of a domestic auto industry in Saudi Arabia, the company said on Thursday. The Saudi Public Investment Fund has launched a project in an attempt to establish a domestic automobile manufacturer, and launched a sovereign automobile company known as SNAM. On May 9, 150 Saudi Arabian university students currently studying in Korea participated in the job fair, which was jointly held by SNAM. It was the first job fair in Korea held to recruit workers that would be sent to Saudi Arabia. It was reported that Daewoo International would be one of the three major shareholders in the project, through the purchase of a 15 percent stake in SNAM for 60 billion won ($55 million). SNAM will have the 50 percent stake and PIF takes 35 percent stake. Under the deal, SNAM, PIF and Daewoo International will collectively invest approximately $1 billion to build the plant. — SG
