BUSINESS DEALS
 
by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen E-Mail this
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN / AFP / GETTY
ARCELOR AND MITTAL STEEL
Backroom politicking, a failed white knight and one of the world's richest men all played a role in the third biggest deal of the year. Mittal Steel bid for Arcelor, its next biggest competitor, in January, and was promptly rebuffed. Arcelor -- itself the merged product of French, Spanish and Luxembourg companies -- turned its nose up at Lakshmi Mittal, the India-born businessman whose wealth is surpassed only by Bill Gates' and Warren Buffett's. Arcelor enlisted Severstal of Russia to intercept. In June, Mittal prevailed by doubling its offer. The $71 billion deal creates a global giant with three times the steel-making capacity of its nearest rival, Nippon Steel.





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