ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steel maker, is eyeing a stake in China's Angang Steel in its latest foray into the enormous Chinese market, the Financial Times said on Monday.<br/><br/>Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian billionaire and chief executive of ArcelorMittal, proposed buying a near 25-percent stake in Angang in a private meeting with Angang's chairman Zhang Xiaogang two months ago, the newspaper reported.<br/><br/>The deal could be worth at least five billion dollars according to Angang's current market valuation, although financial terms were not discussed, it said.<br/><br/>"I had an informal discussion with Mr Zhang about various possibilities. As part of this, I tossed around a number of ideas," the London-based newspaper quoted Mittal as saying.<br/><br/>Zhang turned down Mittal's proposal but told the newspaper that he would be interested in allowing the Luxembourg-based company a one to two percent holding in his company, the report said.<br/><br/>"We (Angang and ArcelorMittal) can work together. We have similar ideas," said Zhang, adding the two companies could possibly take an equity stake in a standalone production venture, according to the report.<br/><br/>Angang, listed in Hong Kong, is a majority state-owned company. It produced 16 million tonnes of steel last year, second only to domestic industry leader Baosteel, the report said.<br/><br/>ArcelorMittal, which has long sought to expand influence in China's steel industry, the world's biggest, announced in December a deal to eventually take 73.13 percent of privately owned China Oriental for around one billion dollars.<br/><br/>The deal is still awaiting approval by the Chinese government, who are yet to permit a foreign owner to take control of a large domestic producer.<br/><br/>
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