Mrs Mittal will run steel show in directors' absence

Billionaire Lakshmi Mittal will trust none other than his better half, Usha, when none of the directors are present to run the world's largest steel company.

The shareholders of Mittal Steel, which will be soon renamed ArcelorMittal, cleared a proposal to designate Usha Mittal to the position by an overwhelming support at an annual general meeting (AGM) in Amsterdam yesterday.

"The resolution was approved by 97% of the shareholder votes," Mittal Steel said in a regulatory filing.

The board had proposed to designate Usha Mittal as the person referred to in article 23 of the articles of association of the company.

According to the article of association, such a person is "temporarily responsible for the management of the company, in case all members of the board of directors are prevented from acting or are permanently absent."

The company said Mrs Mittal has more than 15 years experience in steel and related industries, and was a director of the company from its inception until March 16, 2001, in its proposal placed before the AGM.

According to the company's annual report for 2006, Lakshmi and Usha Mittal own 87.47% of Mittal Steel shares, representing 98.32% of its voting rights.

Currently, Mittal Steel's board is headed by Joseph Kinsch as chairman, while Lakshmi Mittal is the president of the board. Mittal's daughter Vanisha Mittal is also one of the directors.

The shareholders also approved a proposal to ratify the board's decision to appoint Lakshmi Mittal as chief executive officer of the company as of November 5, 2006.

The Mittal family abstained during the vote on this resolution, which was approved by 98.2% of the votes cast by other shareholders. The company had said in November 2006, when Mittal was appointed as CEO, that the controlling shareholder would abstain from voting on his appointment.

This was the first AGM attended by both former shareholders of Arcelor and shareholders of Mittal Steel.

ArcelorMittal is the world's number one steel company with 320,000 employees in more than 60 countries. It had a combined revenue of $88.6 billion in 2006, with a crude steel production of 118 million tonne, representing around 10% of world steel output.

Besides other proposals, the shareholders also approved the annual accounts for fiscal 2006, a proposal to continue to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.325 per share.