Mittal completes acquisition of Kryvorizstal
Mittal Steel Company, the world's largest steel producer, on Friday (November 25) announced that it completed the acquisition of 93.02 percent stake in Kryvorizhstal, the largest carbon steel long products producer of Ukraine. In line with the acquisition deal, Mittal Steel acquired a 93.02 percent stake in Kryvorizstal for UAH 24.2 billion ($4.84 billion). The acquisition cost has been financed out of Mittal Steel's own cash resources and credit lines. Commenting, Lakshmi N. Mittal, Chairman and CEO of Mittal Steel Company, said, “This is a key, strategic acquisition for Mittal Steel as it provides us with a large size, low-cost production platform in a core and fast growing market. Now the acquisition has been completed, we can immediately start working to improve the competitive position of Kryvorizstal. We have already identified some $200 million of synergies which we believe can be realized by the end of 2006, largely through implementing improvements to the sales and marketing and procurement divisions. We will now be looking at how additional value can be created in the company over the longer-term, through a variety of means including making strategic investments to improve product mix and quality and increase raw material self-sufficiency”.