May 11, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 12, 1427

PARIS, May 10: The two top executives at the centre of the Arcelor-Mittal takeover battle stuck to their positions on Wednesday, with Guy Dolle of Arcelor reiterating his opposition to a deal and Lakshmi Mittal ruling out abandoning his plan to create a world-leading steel giant.

Arcelor chief executive Dolle said that Arcelor remained opposed to a takeover by Mittal Steel and would remain unconditionally hostile so long as Mittal Steel refused to reveal its business plan.

Speaking to France’s Le Monde newspaper, the chairman of Mittal Steel, Lakshmi Mittal, ruled out abandoning his takeover plans and repeated his intention of launching a formal bid “within a week to 10 days”.

On Tuesday, Mittal Steel said it would be prepared to sweeten its 22-billion-euro cash and shares takeover bid for Mittal, offering the possibility of a breakthrough after three and a half months of stalemate.

However, any improved offer would be on condition that Arcelor management dropped its opposition to the deal and recommended it to shareholders — something that Dolle ruled out on Wednesday.

“The board of Arcelor asked (Mittal Steel) for the business plan. They told us that they wouldn’t give it to us. In this case, the position of Arcelor has not changed and will never change,” Dolle told AFP during a visit to power station in the northern French town of Dunkirk.

Arcelor “has not changed its view: either it’s an offer in cash and in this case we can evaluate it, or it is a mixed offer and we need to look at the value of Mittal shares,” said Dolle.

“And this value, it is not only the stock market that enables us to evaluate it, it’s the business plan,” said Dolle.—AFP