Sunday, August 2, 2009

Unlike Tatas, LN Mittal doesn't regret global acquisitions

Unlike business icon Ratan Tata, steel tycoon L N Mittal has no regrets about his global acquisition spree that earned him the 'biggest steel maker' title and, with it, tons of problems.

"We are the merger of the two best companies... the merged entity is a winner," Mittal told in a telephonic interview from Luxembourg when asked if he wished that his group was still Mittal Steel and not ArcelorMittal - the entity born out of Mittal's USD 32 billion deal for European steel giant Arcelor in 2006.

On whether he had any regrets like that expressed by Tata on his group's global acquisitions - Corus steel and JLR, the takeovers that made the group struggle hard to find finance due to slowdown blues, Mittal said: "I don't want to comment on this question."

However, on the amalgamation of his very own Mittal Steel with Arcelor, he said: "I think this is the merger of the two best companies. We have successfully completed and results are clearly seen. In difficult times, our strategies have not changed, our growth plans have not changed and this merged company is clearly a winner."

Incidentally, Tata had said in a recent interview to London-based Sunday Times that the acquisition of Corus Steel and Jaguar Land Rover happened at an inopportune time.

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