Sinosteel Corp., China's second- largest iron-ore trader, almost tripled profit in 2007 as it benefited from investments in mining resources overseas.

Profit rose by 180 percent for the Beijing-based company, spokesman Zhu Songbai said by phone today, declining to give specific details. Sales rose 83 percent to 111.2 billion yuan ($15 billion), he said, citing data from a meeting yesterday.

Sinosteel, planning a shares sale, joins other Chinese companies in raising investments overseas to secure supplies of raw materials to feed an economy that grew at more than 11 percent in the first three quarters of last year. It has made a A$1.2 billion ($1 billion) bid for the Australian iron ore producer Midwest Corp., and increased a majority stake in Zimbabwe's largest ferrochrome producer.

The state-owned company plans to sell shares for the first time, and would make all of its businesses publicly traded, it said in a statement today on its Web site, without elaborating. President Huang Tianwen had earlier said the company may sell shares to investors in five units.