Baosteel, a state-owned iron and steel company, agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Baosteel-Nippon Steel Automotive Steel Sheets, a joint venture, from Nippon Steel, a global producer of steel, for $247m. Initially, the venture was named Baosteel-NSC/Arcelor Automotive Steel Sheets and for its 50% share, Baosteel would supply autosheets to Chinese carmakers, Nippon Steel would sell to Japanese-invested automakers in China for its 38% investment in the JV, and ArcelorMittal – for its 12% stake – would target mainly European car companies in China such as SAIC Volkswagen Automotive Arcelor sold its share to Nippon Steel in 2011.