Nippon Steel Says It’s Undecided About Arcelor BUSINESS ASIA By Bloomberg
By Dave McCombs and Yoshifumi Takemoto
Nippon Steel, the world’s second-largest steel maker, said that no “concrete” decision had been made about expanding cooperation with its bigger rival, Arcelor Mittal. The Japanese steel maker formed a venture with Arcelor in July 2004 and Baosteel Group to make sheet metal for autos in Shanghai. Mittal Steel’s $38.3 billion purchase of Arcelor last year left the merged company to renegotiate where it may use Nippon Steel’s production technology.
“Nothing concrete has been decided by Nippon Steel with Arcelor Mittal,” said Masato Suzuki, a spokesman for the Tokyo-based steel maker, responding to a report in The Nikkei on Monday saying that the companies were likely to agree by next month on extending their cooperation.
Nippon Steel, which makes 29 percent as much steel as its bigger rival, took steps last year to fend off takeover attempts and has said that it will expand alliances with rivals to meet rising demand without acquiring other companies.
The company’s president, Akio Mimura, will meet with Arcelor Mittal’s chief executive, Lakshmi Mittal, next month in New York, The Nikkei reported, without saying where it got the information. The companies may agree to expand automotive-steel partnerships in China and North America, the newspaper said.
“We can’t comment on the schedule of executives,” said Nippon Steel’s Suzuki. Officials from Arcelor Mittal could not be reached for comment.
Mittal said on June 13 that he does not rule out “large” acquisitions.
Nippon Steel produced 34 million tons of the metal in 2006 compared with Arcelor Mittal’s output of 118 million tons, according to the London-based Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau.
Nippon Steel built three new domestic production lines for galvanized steel last year. The company also acquired a stake in the Brazilian steel maker Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais. Posco and Nippon Steel said on Oct. 20 that they would spend more than $900 million to increase cross-holdings.
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