Mittal sure of winning Arcelor bid

Brussels: Mittal Steel chairman Lakshmi Mittal is sure that he is going to win the $32 billion Arcelor bid. In an interview to the International Herald Tribune, Mittal dismissed the notion that he could take a minority stake alongside the Russian steel magnate Aleksei Mordashov.

He also derided the corporate governance standards of Arcelor, which is trying to escape his $32 billion bid.

Mittal is hoping to prevent the Arcelor-Severstal merger to a large degree with more than 50 per cent of Arcelor's shareholders rebelling against it.

But Arcelor says 29 per cent of investors have sought a special general Assembly to vote on the company's proposed tie-up with Russian steel group Severstal. Meanwhile, European Union anti-trust regulators approved Mittal Steel's takeover bid for Arcelor.

A combination of Mittal Steel and Arcelor - the world's first and second-biggest steelmakers - was "a steel man's dream" and anything else would be "a tragedy" for the industry, Mittal told the newspaper.

Mordashov last month agreed to a 13 billion euro deal that will see him taking nearly a third of a combination of Arcelor with Severstal, the Russian steelmaker he controls.

Mittal Steel has previously said it would consider settling for less than 50 per cent of Arcelor. Despite the planned Russian deal, it has shown no let up in its determination to carry out the takeover.

On Friday it turned up the pressure on Arcelor by handing over its business plans, something Arcelor had said was a pre-condition for any talks.

It shows the future evolution of Mittal Steel's value," Mittal told the Financial Times in another interview. "That should really satisfy them that the Mittal-Arcelor combination is a far superior combination for shareholders," he told the Financial Times. "We are waiting for them to invite us for discussions on a friendly conclusion."

However, Mittal's hopes of preventing the Arcelor-Severstal merger lie largely with persuading more than 50 per cent of Arcelor's shareholders to rebel against it, a big challenge for the minority investors who are opposed to the Russian merger.

In the interview with the newspaper, Mittal declined to comment on what would happen if his company ended up as a minority shareholder in a merger of Arcelor and Severstal. "We are not thinking beyond our existing proposal," he said.