CASE STUDY BUSINESS ANAYSIS

RUNNING HEAD : Case Study : The Steel War : Mittal vs . Arcelor

Case Study : The Steel War : Mittal vs . Arcelor

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ABSTRACT

The take over of Arcelor , a European steel company , by Mittal Steel , an Indian MNC , is considered to be one of the most heated take over battles in recent history . The new company Arcelor-Mittal would combine the Number 1 and Number 2 steel producers in the world and would control over 10 percent of global steel output . Lakshmi Mittal in January 2006 launched

an unsolicited bid to acquire Arcelor , the Luxembourg high-end steel manufacturer . Arcelor has a French heritage , and its executives were sharply dismissive of the initial offer made by Mittal and even made a vow that the deal would not go through (Moral , Abbott , 2009 ,

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The five-month battle turned out to be an extremely bitter one , with even the French media and the French government being dead against the deal . In addition , there was a huge outcry from the French unions and the left-wing politicians who were stunned to discover the powerlessness of the government over such a major business decision (van de Kuil 2008 ,

. 24 . The hostile takeover also involved poison pill and white knight takeover defense strategies - extreme forms of self defense employed by the company that is in danger of being taken over . There were bitter recriminations too from Arcelor , undermining Mittal steel However , in the end pragmatic shareholder interests won out and the merger proceeded when the...