ArcelorMittal to acquire 51% in Turkey's Rozak

ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, will buy 51 per cent of Turkish steel company Rozak AS because of rising demand from the construction industry.

The purchase of closely held Rozak, which had sales of ¤260 million ($358 million) last year, would be complete by the end of 2007, Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal said in a statement today. Financial details of the acquisition weren't provided.

"I would imagine that this will be incremental to the bottom line in a very short space of time,'' said Stephen Pope, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in London. "They are expanding by stealth, by buying up the small players.''

Billionaire Lakshmi Mittal's Mittal Steel bought Arcelor last year in a $38.3 billion deal, a record for the industry, spurring a wave of acquisitions as steelmakers expand to cut costs and increase bargaining power over raw-materials suppliers.

"This acquisition is an important step for ArcelorMittal to meet the strong Turkish demand in all products,'' Gonzalo Urquijo, group management board member, said in a statement.

"Turkey is one of the fastest growing steel markets.'' Rozak, founded in 1983, shipped 450,000 tonnes of steel in 2006, ArcelorMittal said.

The Turkish company operates from five sites in the country and employs 100 people. Industrial production in Turkey rose for the 18th consecutive month in July as exports to Europe expanded, the country's statistics office said today.