Arcelor's board of directors approved a partnership agreement with Mittal Steel on Sunday in Luxembourg, ending roughly five months of resistance to the world's largest steelmaker's advances. A joint press conference was scheduled for Monday at 2:00 p.m. local time (1200 GMT).
Mittal raised its bid to 40.37 euros per Arcelor share, up from 37.74 euros previously and far above the original January offer of 28.21 euros. The proposal will now go before Arcelor shareholders for approval.
Arcelor's management had fought hard to block the deal, at one point announcing a planned merger with Russia's Severstal as an alternative. That move drew sharp criticism from a bloc of Arcelor shareholders concerned that Severstal chairman Alexei Mordashov would hold too much influence in a combined company. Severstal later revised its terms to reduce Mordashov's prospective stake.
A combined Arcelor-Mittal entity would produce roughly 100 million metric tonnes of steel annually, more than three times the output of its nearest competitor, Japan's Nippon Steel at 32.4 million tonnes. The merged company would control about 10 percent of global steel output, generate over 69 billion dollars in sales, and employ 320,000 workers worldwide.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in June 2006, in its own words.