Luxembourg, Belgium approve increased Mittal offer

Market regulators in Belgium and Luxembourg disclosed on Wednesday that they had approved Mittal Steel's raised offer for rival Arcelor. The Luxembourg regulator said the offer period would be extended until July 5 from a previous date of June 29. Mittal Steel said Tuesday that it was confident its takeover bid would attract at least half of all shares, despite an attempt by Arcelor to thwart it through a merger with Russia's largest steelmaker Severstal.