Arcelor

Arcelor S.A. () is the world's largest steel producer in terms of turnover and the second largest in terms of steel output, with a turnover of €30.2 billion and shipments of 45 million metric tons of steel in 2004. It is registered in Luxembourg. The company was created by a merger of the former companies Aceralia (Spain), Usinor (France) and Arbed (Luxembourg) in 2001. On 25 June 2006, Arcelor announced the decision to merge with Mittal Steel, with the new company to be called Arcelor-Mittal.

Business

Employing 94,000 employees in over 60 countries, it is a major player in all its main markets: automotive, construction, metal processing, primary transformation, household appliances, and packaging, as well as general industry. With total sales of over €30 billion, Arcelor is the world's largest steel manufacturer in terms of turnover. It produces long steel products, flat steel products and inox-steel. In January 2006 Arcelor announced the acquisition of Dofasco, Canada's largest steel producer with an annual output of 4.4 million tons. After an intense bidding war against the German ThyssenKrupp, Arcelor had finally bid 5.6 billion Canadian dollars. The high bid proves the importance of Arcelor's improving presence in the North American market.

Merger with Mittal Steel

The company was the target of a takeover bid by its rival Mittal Steel on 2006-01-27. "Arcelor Board of Directors unanimously rejects Mittal's hostile proposal" retrieved from Arcelor.com on 2006-02-07 However, the bid resulted in tremendous increase in shareholder value caused due to the highest ever share prices quoted for Arcelor. Two members of the board of Arcelor, Guillermo Ulacia and Jacques Chabanier also resigned suddenly. On May 26 2006 Arcelor announced its intention to merge with Severstal. Since then several economists, media and shareholders have questioned the intentions of Arcelor in announcing its merger with Severstal due to a perceived opacity in the transaction. But on 25 June 2006, the Arcelor board decided to go ahead with the merger with Mittal Steel and scrapped plans for Severstal merger. The new company will be called "Arcelor Mittal". Mittal Steel will hold 43.6% stake in the new company. Arcelor would pay Severstal €130 million as a "fine" for the fall-out of their failed talks. Lakshmi Mittal (owner of Mittal Steel) will be the president and Joseph Kinsch (current Arcelor chairman) will remain the chairman of the new company till his retirement. Arcelor agrees to Mittal merger on International Herald TribuneArcelor, Mittal decide to merge: Reports on Rediff.com Arcelor's merger with Mittal would create an undisputed champion in the steel industry and will increase its bargaining power with suppliers and consumers.

Reaction to the takeover

Arcelor's directors strongly opposed the takeover, with Arcelor's chief executive, Guy Dollé, even dismissing Mittal as a "company of Indians". The French, Luxembourg and Spanish governments strongly opposed the takeover. The Belgian government on the other hand declared its stance as neutral and invited both parties to deliver a business plan with the future investments in research in the Belgian steel plants. The French opposition was initially very fierce and has been criticized in the British, American and Indian media as double standards and economic nationalism in Europe. Indian commerce minister Kamal Nath warned that any attempt by France to block the deal would lead to a trade war between India and France.

On June 20, the above claim by economists was confirmed when Severstal increased its valuation of Arcelor. Management of Arcelor had in fact undervalued the company itself. The capability of management which had openly supported the previous valuation of Arcelor came into question. Further the combined markets of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain chided Arcelor management and suspended trading of its stock.

On June 26, the Board of Directors recommended the following: Approval of the improved Mittal offer (49% improvement compared to the initial offer of 27 January (108% improvement of the cash component); Proposed creation of Arcelor-Mittal; The inductrial and corporate governance model will the based on Arcelor's model. A corporate meeting is scheduled for 30 June to vote on this matter.

Products

The products of Arcelor are divided into three groups: Flat steel products, long steel products and stainless steel.

Flat steel products

The main production sites of flat steel products are Ghent-Zelzate, Dunkirk, Gijón, Fos-sur-Mer, Liège, Florange, Bremen, Eisenhüttenstadt and recently São Francisco do Sul in Brazil.

External links

References

Companies of Europe | Companies of Luxembourg | Steel companies | 2002 establishments

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