The Thai firm has launched a £125m fund-raising plan in order to pay for the acquisition of Teesside steel plant from Corus, took place in August.

Sahaviriya steel declared their plans to heave the amount from a rights issue and private placing after buying Britain's largest hot-rolled steel coil maker for £316m from Corus owner Tata.

They are expecting to boost their production and sales to 3m tonnes in 2012 while they will further enable themselves to compete with rivals by cutting down production costs.

Valuing it at an estimated £480m, the two firms signed the agreement to buy an 80% stake in the unit. The understanding of memorandum made them to take a major holding in the operation to produce steel slab which leaves Corus at a minority stake.

The Thai company is expecting to complete the financing by February and to open the plant again by the summer. SSI's president, Win Viriyaprapaikit, stated, "After the fund raising, the acquisition should be completed in the first quarter of 2011."

He further added that they anticipated the plant to produce slab for SSI within six months after the successful purchasing. They are confident to raise the sales and production to 3m tonnes in 2012.