Directors of the European steel giant Arcelor started a crucial board meeting yesterday to decide between a partnership offered by Russia's Severstal and a hostile bid from Mittal Steel.
"This evening you will have decisions which will be presented to you," board member Fernand Wagner said on arrival for the meeting at the company's Luxembourg headquarters which started at 10:15am.
An Arcelor spokesman said all the 18 board members were present or represented at the meeting, which was chaired by Luxembourg's Joseph Kinsch, who has steered negotiations between the different parties over the past few days.
The meeting is to weigh the persistent bid by Mittal Steel, the world's largest steelmaker owned by Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, against that of Severstal.
The offer by the Russian company, controlled by oligarch Alexei Mordashov, is popular with management but opposed by many shareholders.
"Things are all rather blurred, Mittal is prepared to raise his offer and make major concessions, being the minority partner in the case of a marriage," one source close to the talks said. "But Mordachov is determined to go right to the end. And he has stayed in Luxembourg."
Arcelor has spurned Mittal's unwelcome advances for the past five months. Earlier this month it formally rejected Netherlands-based Mittal's 25.8 billion euro (US$32.3 billion) hostile bid.
But such was the hostility generated by Severstal's Mordashov that Arcelor had to agree to renew talks with Mittal, whose first bid was launched on Jan. 27.
And Mittal is now said to be tabling a substantially higher offer, which may prompt Arcelor finally to succumb to its advances.
The Financial Times said Mittal's offer might be raised by up to 2 billion euros, from the current offer of 37.74 euros per Arcelor share to at least 40 euros in a mixture of cash and shares.
While a Severstal-Arcelor union would deprive Mittal of its No. 1 ranking, it has sparked a revolt among some Arcelor shareholders.
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