Behind the screen

Paris, June 7 (AFP): Executives of the European steel group Arcelor and Mittal Steel will be meeting soon to discuss a business plan the latter has submitted as part of its unsolicited bid for Arcelor, the group said today.

Arcelor said it continued to review the plan it had received last Friday and had identified a number of questions.

?Arcelor anticipates a meeting between the representatives of the two management teams to discuss the Mittal Steel standalone business plan will take place in the coming days,? the company said in a statement on its website.

Luxembourg-based Arcelor has been trying to fend off a hostile takeover bid from Mittal Steel, the world?s largest steel producer, since January. The offer was officially launched on May 18 and is now valued at $32 billion.

On May 26, Arcelor announced plans to acquire Russian producer Severstal in a deal that would give Severstal a 38 per cent stake in the European group. Industry analysts have said an Arcelor-Severstal tie-up could result in an entity that might be too big for Mittal to swallow.

But Mittal, which has Indian origins but is headquartered in the Netherlands, has maintained its bid, hoping to win the backing of Arcelor shareholders.

Mittal had recently dismissed the idea of taking a minority stake in Arcelor alongside the Russian firm. A combination of Arcelor and Mittal Steel would be ?a steel man?s dream?, Mittal was quoted as saying, adding that anything else would be ?a tragedy? for the industry.

Mittal Steel had previously said it would settle for less than 50 per cent stake in Arcelor.