The Hindu : Business : Mittal willing to revise bid

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Business

Business

Mittal willing to revise bid

The revised offer will be made next week

LONDON: Mittal Steel on Tuesday announced that it is willing to increase its $23 billion bid for the takeover of European steel rival Arcelor and that the new offer is likely to be made in the middle of next week.

Making this announcement, group Chairman L. N. Mittal said the company was willing to make significant changes in the corporate governance, if its rival recommended the new offer to its board.

"We have said from the beginning of this transaction that we would like to enter into a friendly dialogue with Arcelor.

With this in mind, we have made various efforts in recent weeks to initiate discussions and have indicated that, in the event of a recommended deal, we would be willing to revise our offer and make significant changes to our corporate governance,'' he said.

After the announcement through a statement, Mr. Mittal was quoted as saying by AFP that he would make his offer by "middle of next week provided there are no more roadblocks by Arcelor.''

Meanwhile, shareholders of Mittal Steel are meeting in Rotterdam amid concerns that the steel giant's proposed informal hostile takeover of steel rival Arcelor is taking longer than expected to clear regulatory hurdles. — PTI

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