Imagine the scene, you are having a nice lunch with the boss of a rival company, and just in passing, while you are taking a sip of your aperitif, your companion lets it slip that he is thinking of buying you out. “How’s £13bn?” Why, what an affront! It must have spoilt your meal!
And that was just one of the many gripes Steel maker Arcelor has against the bid by Mittal Steel.
In fact Arcelor’s boss, Guy Dollé, had this to say of the bid: that it’s “destructive, prejudicial, threatening and unbalanced”. But apart from that he quite liked it.
The gist is as follows: because of the way the bid was announced, Arcelor says too much damage has been done, and there is no way a deal can now be reached. That Arcelor’s safety standards are not up to scratch, and that Mittal is no more than a cheap commodity maker, whereas Arcelor makes premium products.
A statement issued on behalf of Mittal said: “It is odd for Arcelor to claim the bid came without warning and then come out with a fully fledged defence document, which it said it had been working on for eight months.”
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