MITTAL & ARCELOR AGREE TO MERGE

Mittal and Arcelor are to sign papers shortly agreeing to an in-principle merger of Mittal and Arcelor.

The merged company is to be called Arcelor Mittal and the deal was arrived at following Mittal Steel hiking the offer price for each Arcelor share to euro 43.

LN Mittal and J Kinsch will be co-chairmen of the new company. Mittal's stake in the new merged entity will come down to 45%.

Mittal, Arcelor will retain Dofasco and the board of directors will have Arcelor representatives.

Meanwhile, Arcelor will have to pay euro 130 million to Severstal as compensation for breaking the contract, according to a flash on NDTV Profit.

Updated at 14.30 hrs:
Arcelor is close to accepting an 'upwardly revised' offer by Mittal bringing the 5-month tussle between the two steel majors to an end, according to sources in contact with Societe Generale, Mittal's main advisors.

Mittal Steel honcho Lakshmi Mittal is said to be in intense talks with Arcelor and his advisors say they are confident of bagging the deal which is likely to be announced later today.