Open / Close Advertisement

ArcelorMittal and Laiwu Steel to Terminate Share Purchase Contract

12/17/2007 - ArcelorMittal and Laiwu Steel will not extend their Share Purchase contract beyond December 31, 2007.

ArcelorMittal and Laiwu Steel announced they will not extend their Share Purchase contract beyond December 31, 2007.
 
Originally signed in February 2006, the contract had still not received the required approval from the relevant government organizations as of December 2007.
 
 “We continue to view China as an important market and will continue to look for opportunities where the company can add value to China’s Steel Industry,” said Lakshmi N. Mittal, ArcelorMittal’s President and CEO.
 
“ArcelorMittal is well known as one of the most sophisticated producers of steel products,” added Jiang Kaiwen, Chairman of Laiwu Steel. “We are disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to directly benefit from this as strategic equity partners, but we hope we may have other opportunities to work closely together in the future.”
 
ArcelorMittal is the world's largest steel company, with 320,000 employees in more than 60 countries. The company leads a number of major global markets, including automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging, with leading R&D and technology, as well as sizeable captive supplies of raw materials and strong distribution networks. An industrial presence in 27 European, Asian, African and American countries exposes the company to all the key steel markets, from emerging to mature, positions it will be looking to develop in the high-growth Chinese and Indian markets.
 
ArcelorMittal’s key pro forma financials for 2006 show combined revenues of USD 88.6 billion, with a crude steel production of 118 million tonnes, representing around 10% of world steel output.