When someone like Lakshmi Mittal wants something, you no its going to be difficult to resist . It’s not for nothing that he is the richest man living in Britain, or one of the five richest men in the world, and boy, he really does want Arcelor.
The latest offer from the real life man of steel, is a big jump above the last bid. For one thing, the value of the deal has been upped by 34%. For another thing, this time around there’s a bigger cash element, its been upped from 25% to 29% of the offer. But perhaps, more significantly, Mr Mittal has made a massive concession on the level of control he will have in the merged company. Currently, the Mittal family has 10 votes for every B share it holds. But under the revised offer, it will be a case of one share, one vote, and its is believed that their overall stake in the merged company will be just 45%
Arcelor is not making it easy for Mittal, however. Mittal had planned to partially fund the purchase by selling off Arcelor’s Canadian subsidiary, Dofasco. But, Arcelor then appointed independent directors, effectively ring fencing the company. Mittal will, as a result, not be able to sell of this asset.
Arcelor also pans to hand out 5bn euros in a share buy back. Even so, the latest Mittal offer represents an 18% premium on Arcelor’s share price at close of play on Thursday.
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