Qatar Steel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Industries Qatar, increased its stake in South Steel of Saudi Arabia to 29.74 per cent, the company said on Thursday, a nearly nine percentage point increase in ownership.

A statement issued by the company said it will be involved in most aspects of South Steel's business, including operations, production and administration.

Qatar, the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, has been investing in other industries. Earlier this month, Qatar Steel secured a $250 million subordinated loan facility from two Gulf banks to finance expansion.

The company launched a $5.7 billion aluminium plant in December 2009, which was inaugurated last year, and currently has foreign investments in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

South Steel consists of an integrated steel melting complex and has a production capacity of 1 million MTPA of steel billets and 500,000 MTPA of steel reinforcement bars.