While the European Commission is poised to approve Mittal's takeover of Arcelor, the latter just announced a transaction which could thwart the former's unsolicited offer. Arcelor would merge with Severstal, the Russian steel maker, giving rise to the world market leader in the field.
No doubt this transaction will also have to be notified to competition authorities. Rather ironically, from the standpoint of those advocating the creation of European industrial champions (an argument invoked as a reason to oppose to Mittal's project), this transaction makes apparently less sense than Mittal's bid on Arcelor.
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