Mittal's takeover of Iscor postponed

Mittal’s takeover of Iscor postponed

Recent news in the market reveals that South African competition board authorities have postponed famous investor Lakshmi Mittal's plan of takeover Iscor. Lakshmi Mittal, owner of LNM Holdings, currently holding 49.9% stake in Iscor has demanded his share to be increased over 50%. However, the competition board delayed the takeover on the ground that they wait for a statement on the subject from Trade and Industry Ministry. The delay in takeover was as a result of South African government's interference to the pricing policy of Iscor. As previously reported by SteelOrbis, Iscor's practicing import parity pricing and arranging its prices in line with the import price of same product leads the prices of Iscor to be higher than the prices of other domestic mill. Moreover, as Iscor holds the monopoly in South African steel sector, domestic steel users have to face high prices of Iscor. To ease the problem, government warned LNM to limit price increases. On the condition that “developmental pricing model” is established, it is stated that Mittal's takeover of Iscor may be eventuated depending on approval of the tribunal.