BOC Group will double its investment in China to US$1 billion in three years, the United Kingdom-based industrial gas firm said yesterday in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.
"China is probably the most important market in terms of growth for BOC," said Tony Isaac, BOC Group's chief executive.
Isacc noted that the company has been doing business in China for nearly 20 years and has invested about US$500 million.
Revenues from the Chinese market now accounts for 2.5 percent of BOC's global total. Following its new surge of investment, that figure is forecast to jump above 9 percent.
"Nanjing is extremely important in BOC's development plan in China, and it will hold half of BOC's newly added investment," Isaac noted.
Other possible investment locations will be Shanghai, Suzhou and southern China, he added.
BOC, one of the world's top five industrial gas suppliers, is primarily targeting petrochemical, electronics and steel customers.
"As we grow in China, it is important that we grow with our partners and the development of our own people," Isaac said.
Trevor Burt, chairman of BOC (China) Holdings Co Ltd, said BOC will build five new joint ventures in China and hire another 600 people.
The company plans for all domestic units to be managed by Chinese, Burt said.
"We will source our key management team in China and Chinese studying overseas and planning to go back to China," Burt said. "We will also choose qualified partners who value us and fit with our strategy in China."
BOC gained a foothold in China in 1985 and now has 26 companies operating across the country. It is now the biggest industrial gas company in China, employing 1,800 workers.
The firm set up its Chinese mainland headquarters in Shanghai in 1996 and shifted its North Asia headquarters to Shanghai from Hong Kong two years ago.