Mittal secures Arcelor backing

Mittal secures Arcelor backing:

TAKEOVER: Lakshmi Mittal
MITTAL Steel has won control of 92 per cent of Arcelor shares as it closes in on the controversial £18 billion takeover of its rival.

Mittal needed 50 per cent of Arcelor shareholders to back the deal to create a company more than three times the size of the next biggest steelmaker.

Chairman and chief executive Lakshmi Mittal - the UK's richest man - said the high take-up by Arcelor shareholders was a 'resounding endorsement' of the deal.
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It came after months of bitter wrangling between the two firms which ended in June when the Arcelor board accepted a third and improved offer from Mittal.

The company will be called Arcelor Mittal and based at the Arcelor headquarters in Luxembourg. It will be capable of producing 120 million tonnes of steel a year, 10 per cent of global production.