Daily News & Analysis
LONDON, Jan 28: Lakshmi Mittal, world’s richest Indian, is set to get richer. On Friday, Mittal Steel, the world’s largest steelmaker, made an unsolicited bid of 18.6 billion euro (over Rs1,00,000 crore) to acquire its nearest competitor.
Mittal Steel is offering 28.21 euro a share for Arcelor, and trading in the shares of the two companies was suspended on Friday in anticipation of a bid.
Born into a business family that was already into steel, Mittal, 55, started out with a steel mill in Indonesia in 1976. He built his empire through acquisitions and has a current personal net worth of $20 billion.
Mittal became the world’s largest steel producer when he bought the International Steel Group based in Richfield, Ohio, for $4.5 billion from financier Wilbur Ross last April.
He told reporters in Piccadilly on Friday that he was very excited about the development. He called it a great opportunity to take the industry to a new level. “A merger of the two giant companies would create the world’s first 100-million-tonne steel producer,” he said.
“Mittal Steel and Arcelor’s assets are complementary to each other, whether it is products or geographical areas, and the venture would be an important transition for shareholders of both companies.”