August 05, 2006	Saturday	Rajab 9, 1427

LONDON, Aug 4: The head of new global steel giant Arcelor Mittal will be Roland Junck, a senior Arcelor director who was named as chief executive by the group on Friday.

Junck, who was the third-in-command at Arcelor, will be tasked with overseeing the integration of Arcelor and Mittal Steel after their 25-billion-euro agreement to merge.

“I’ve been very impressed by his deep knowledge of the steel industry. I’m very confident he will be an excellent chief executive,” said Mittal Steel owner and the driving force behind the creation of the new group, Lakshmi Mittal.

The Mittal family, the biggest shareholders in Arcelor Mittal, are expected by analysts to set the strategic direction of the group, however, despite the nomination of a chief executive from Arcelor.

Lakshmi Mittal was named as president of the board and his son, Aditya Mittal, was given the finance director post.

The combined group has 320,000 employees, is expected to produce about 116 million tons of steel per year and will be by far the biggest steel group in the world with about 10 per cent of the global market.

Mittal said last week that it owned 92 per cent of Arcelor shares following a bitter takeover struggle stretching back to the end of January. Mittal raised its takeover offer twice and made a series of concessions to win support for the project.

“The appointments were approved on Friday by the board of directors of both Arcelor and Mittal Steel. They take place with immediate effect allowing for the immediate start of the integration process,” a joint statement said.—AFP