Thursday, July 13, 2006

Mittal Speaks

Mittal steel made history by finally acquiring Arcelor in tough battle which went well over 5 months before finally the $32.2 billion deal was finalized.

Knowledge at Wharton spoke to Aditya Mittal on what was Mittal Steel's strategy in pursuing this acquisition? When the company encountered resistance, how did it frame its negotiation strategy? What will the deal mean for the world steel industry?

The most important thing is that this is a merger of equals, and we truly and deeply believe in that. I think a merger of equals can be successful if we have an open, transparent and performance-oriented culture, and that is what we will be instilling.

At the end of the day, I do not believe that the cultures of Arcelor and Mittal Steel are that disparate. We obviously come from different backgrounds, but the vision has been the same. In the global steel industry we operate within the same markets.

Our market conduct has been the same. Our attitude towards operational excellence has been the same. Our attitude towards purchasing has been the same. So from an
organizational structure [decision-making strategic vision] I think the fit is very strong. Clearly both of us need to ensure that we can work together better - that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

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