Sapphire's rail acquisition puts turnaround on track

Singapore

A BOUT of losses and a "drastic" sale of its sagging core steel business later, Sapphire Corp is starting to show some pizzazz as it rides on China's urban rail boom following a glint-inducing 360 million yuan (S$77 million) acquisition of Ranken Infrastructure five months ago.

The buyout has raised fresh hope for Sapphire with Ranken having snagged jobs over the past couple of months worth 1.3 billion yuan to build rail lines in three cities and tunnel work in China.