The BoD of Mittal Steel has announced today that the process for its legal merger with Arcelor SA will involve two steps.
In the first step, Mittal Steel will be merged into an ad hoc subsidiary called ArcelorMittal. Each Mittal Steel share will be exchanged for a share of ArcelorMittal. The same corporate governance structure applicable to Mittal Steel and Arcelor SA will be applied to ArcelorMittal. According to the press release, on May 2, 2007 Mittal Steel and ArcelorMittal signed a merger agreement and the disclosure documents relating to the merger will be submitted to the relevant securities regulatory authorities soon.
In the second step, ArcelorMittal will be merged into Arcelor, which will be renamed ArcelorMittal. The exchange ratio of ArcelorMittal shares for Arcelor shares, which has not been determined yet, will be announced once approved by the BoD of the two companies.
In line with the press release, the companies are actively working to implement the two mergers as promptly as possible in the course of 2007.