Shareholders of ArcelorMittal today approved increasing the company's authorised share capital, a step towards launching its proposed rights offering.
The resolution to "increase the company's authorised share capital including the authorisation to limit or cancel the shareholders' preferential subscription rights," has been cleared by the shareholders, the company said in a press release.
The shareholders also approved the resolution "to reduce the share capital of the company without distribution to shareholders, in order to reduce the par value of the shares in the company to an amount of 10 euro cents per share (approved with 98.97 per cent of the vote).
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The company further said the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of ArcelorMittal shareholders, held today in Luxembourg, approved both resolutions with a large majority.
ArcelorMittal's USD 3 billion rights issue is expected to open on March 14 as the steel giant tries to reduce debt after its losses widened seven-fold in 2015 to USD 7.9 billion.
Last month, the Luxembourg-headquartered steelmaker had announced plans to reduce its USD 15.7 billion net debt by nearly a quarter.
Steel shipments for Q4 2016 of 20.0 million metric tonnes
were 1.6 per cent higher as compared to 19.7 million metric tonnes for the same quarter in 2015.
"On a comparable basis (considering the sale of long steel producing subsidiaries in the US...And Zaragoza in Spain...Total steel shipments for Q4 2016 were 2.8 per cent higher as compared with 19.5 million metric tonnes for Q4 2015," ArcelorMittal said in a statement.
Sales in the October-December quarter of 2016 were 1.0 per cent higher as compared to corresponding quarter of 2015 primarily due to higher steel shipment volumes, higher average steel selling prices and higher iron ore reference prices offset in part by lower market-priced iron ore shipments, it said.
Depreciation was lower in fourth quarter 2016 as compared to the three-month period in the preceding year primarily due to a decreased asset base following impairments recorded at the end of 2015 and foreign exchange impacts.
Impairment charges for the fourth quarter in 2016 were USD 156 million related to the Vanderbijlpark and Saldanha plants in South Africa.
"Impairment charges for Q4 2015 were USD 4.7 billion including USD 0.9 billion with respect to mining segment goodwill and USD 3.8 billion primarily related to fixed assets," the company said.
On the outlook, the company said the global apparent steel consumption is estimated to have expanded by one per cent in 2016. Based on the current economic outlook, the company said that it expects global apparent steel consumption to grow further in 2017 by 0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent.
The capex spend in 2017 is expected to increase to USD 2.9 billion (from USD 2.4 billion in 2016) as the group seeks to capitalise on opportunities to grow value and returns.
