Mittal Steel Company

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Contents

1 History
2 Business
3 Bids and acquisitions
3.1 Non-Mittal Steel acquisitions
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

Mittal Steel Company N.V. (Euronext: [MT], NYSE: [MT]) is the world's largest steel producer by volume, and the second largest after Arcelor by turnover. CEO Lakshmi Mittal's family owns 88% of the company. Mittal Steel is based in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands but is managed from London by Mittal and his son Aditya. It was formed when Ispat International N.V. acquired LNM Holdings N.V. (both were already controlled by Lakshmi Mittal) and merged with International Steel Group Inc. (the remnants of Bethlehem Steel, Republic Steel and LTV Steel) in 2005. On 25 June 2006, Mittal Steel decided to merge with Arcelor, with the new company to be called Arcelor-Mittal. If the merger succeeds Mittal's family's stake in the company will be decreased to 43.6%.

History

1989: Acquisition of Iron & Steel Company of Trinidad & Tobago
1992: Acquisition of Sibalsa
1994: Acquisition of Sidbec-Dosco
1995: Acquisitions of Hamburger Stahlwerke, which formed Ispat International Ltd. and Ispat Shipping, and Karmet
1997: Ispat International NV goes public
1998: Acquisition of Inland Steel Company
1999: Acquisition of Unimétal
2001: Acquisitions of ALFASID and Sidex
2002: Business assistance agreement signed with Iscor
2003: Acquisition of Nova Hut
2004: Acquisitions of Polskie Huty Stali, BH Steel, Macedonian facilities from Balkan Steel. Creation of Mittal Steel and proposed acquisition of International Steel
2005: Acquisition of Kryvorizhstal
2005: Investment of $9 billion in Jharkhand, India announced
2006: Merger with Arcelor announced and completed after much controversy
2006: Investment for 12 million tonnes capacity steel plant announced in Orissa, India

Business

It employs 179,000 people. Revenue for 2005 was US$28.132 billion (the accounts are prepared in United States dollars). It shipped 49.178 million tonnes of steel during 2005, ahead of Arcelor (45 Mt in 2004), and Nippon Steel (31.3 Mt in 2004). Arcelor however tops Mittal Steel in terms of turnover with an annual turnover of over $37 billion in 2004. In July 2006, Mittal announced his intentions to build a $6.5 billion (Rs. 40,000 crore) steel plant in the state of Orissa, the company's first steel plant in his native India.

Mittal Steel's unique business model helped the company create profitable businesses in countries that were not regarded as premier investment destinations. It buys loss making or under-producing steel companies, and then turns them around by cost cutting and layoffs, thereby creating leaner and more competitive companies.

The company has production units in 17 countries: China, Indonesia, United States, Mexico, Canada, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, Algeria, South Africa, Czech republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Macedonia, Trinidad and Tobago, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

Bids and acquisitions

In October 2005 Mittal Steel acquired Ukrainian steel manufacturer Kryvorizhstal for $4.8 billion in an auction after a controversial earlier sale for a much lower price to a consortium including the son-in-law of ex-President Leonid Kuchma was cancelled by the incoming government of President Viktor Yushchenko.

In 2005 Lakshmi Mittal flew into Jharkhand, India to announce a $9 billion investment to build a greenfield steel plant with a 12 million tonnes per annum production capacity.

On 27 January 2006 it announced a $23.3 billion (€18.6 billion, £12.7 billion) bid for Arcelor. On 19 May 2006 Mittal increased its offer for Arcelor by 38.7% to $32.4bn, or $47.34 per share (€25.8bn, €37.74 per share). On 25 June 2006 Arcelor, in a board meeting announced that it has accepted a further sweetened offer ($50.68 or €40.4 per share) and the new company would now be called Arcelor-Mittal, thus successfully ending one of the most controversial and publicised takeover bids in modern corporate history. Arcelor-Mittal is now by far the largest steelmaker in the world by turnover as well as volume, controlling 10% of the total world steel output. ^{[#endnote_BBC]}

Non-Mittal Steel acquisitions

In August 2005 Global Steel Holdings Limited (GSHL) acquired Bulgarian Finmetals holding, which owned 71% of largest Bulgarian metallurgical plant - Kremikovtzi. Though many media (including Forbes) have announced this as a Mittal Steel company, it is not.

Mittal Steel and Global Steel Holdings Limited compete for the acquisition of Turkish manufacturer "Erdemir".

References

External links

[Company web site]
[Yahoo! - Mittal Steel Company N.V. Company Profile]
[Mittal Steel unveils Arcelor bid] - BBC News

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