LONDON - Chinese commodities group Cedar Holdings has agreed to buy the Stemcor Group, one of the world’s biggest steel traders, for an undisclosed sum, Stemcor said on Tuesday.

The biggest shareholder of London-based Stemcor is U.S. private equity group Apollo Global Management.

Cedar and Stemcor aim to finalize the deal in the first half of 2020, a statement said.

“Stemcor has a well-established global sales network, which will offer potential synergies with the existing domestic and international business of Cedar Holdings,” said Gang Han, vice president of Cedar Holdings Group.

Privately-held Cedar posted revenue of $40.6 billion last year and has offices across Asia, Europe and Africa, the statement said.

Stemcor posted core profit of $39 million on revenue of $1.9 billion in 2018, the latest results on its website showed.

(Reporting by Eric Onstad)

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