LB Group starts RM1b titanium dioxide plant in Gurun, Kedah

LB Group Co Ltd (Shenzhen: 002601), the Chinese titanium dioxide producer, has started building a RM1 billion plant on 60.1 acres (24.32 ha) in the Gurun Heavy Industrial Park in Kedah, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) said on 24 September 2026. The first phase costs RM600 million. When every phase is built the plant will make 300,000 tonnes a year, and it is expected to employ more than 300 skilled Malaysians.

The numbers

• Investment: RM1 billion in total (about US$245 million), of which RM600 million is phase 1
• Capacity: 300,000 tonnes a year on completion
• Company: LB Advanced Material Asia Sdn Bhd, incorporated on 17 September 2025 with RM21 million paid-up capital, 100% owned by LB Group's Billions (Hong Kong) Corporation
• Land: Plot 7 of the park, 60.1 acres, bought on 10 March 2026 for RM117,808,020, or RM45.00 psf
• Land as a share of the project: about 12% of the RM1 billion, or roughly RM16.6 million invested per acre

Who LB Group is

LB Group ranks among the world's largest makers of titanium dioxide, the white pigment in paint, plastics, ink and paper, and also makes titanium sponge, zirconium products and iron phosphate for lithium batteries. It employs close to 20,000 people and reported 2025 revenue of RMB25.97 billion.

Kaiyuan Securities links the Malaysian plant to trade barriers against Chinese-made titanium dioxide; this year LB also bought Venator's 150,000-tonne line in the UK. Director Sun Liang said the Malaysian company lets the group "better serve our regional and global clients while navigating international trade dynamics with greater flexibility", and pointed to Gurun's highway and rail links and its connection to Penang Port.

The land

The park is Ann Joo Resources Bhd's roughly 437-acre landbank at Kinsteel's former steel mill in Gurun, which its subsidiary and developer Transyear Sdn Bhd are selling in large plots to Chinese manufacturers. Ann Joo keeps RM25 psf of each sale; Transyear, which does the earthworks, roads and utilities, keeps the rest, here RM20 psf.

Ann Joo told Bursa Malaysia the price reflected what the site already has, "electricity, water, gas, sunlight (for potential solar generation) and land infrastructure", rather than nearby sales. In February 2025 TA Securities put typical industrial land at RM25 to RM40 psf; LB paid 12.5% above the top of that range.

Two terms matter for anyone buying in the park. The master title is freehold, but LB's plot will be issued as a 99-year leasehold title after subdivision. And completion, due by about June 2027, depends on that title and on state consent for the purchase under section 433B of the National Land Code.

A battery-materials plant next door

In June the same joint venture sold 62.4-acre Plot 5 for RM119.6 million (RM44 psf) to Zichen Malaysia Sdn Bhd, owned by Shanghai Putailai New Energy Technology (Shanghai: 603659). Putailai plans a 50,000-tonne-a-year lithium-ion battery anode plant there, costing up to US$297 million (about RM1.2 billion) and built over 24 months. Together the two Chinese groups have committed about RM2.2 billion to 122.5 acres.

What it means

Because LB builds in phases, RM600 million first and RM400 million later, the demand it creates for contractors, suppliers, logistics and ancillary space around Gurun will run for several years, and Putailai's plant adds to it on the next plot.

Read all about it: Gurun Heavy Industrial Park: land sales, prices and tenants — our standing page on the park, with every plot sale and the history from the steel mill to today.

*Cover map: EPIQ, via EdgeProp (Plot 7 on Lot 8072, in green).*