Luxembourg happy with Mittal, Arcelor deal
Luxembourg, which had been opposing Mittal Steel's bid to takeover Arcelor, on Monday expressed happiness over the deal between two of the world's largest steel makers, saying all its apprehensions had been addressed.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: Luxembourg, which had been opposing Mittal Steel's bid to takeover Arcelor, on Monday expressed happiness over the deal between two of the world's largest steel makers, saying all its apprehensions had been addressed.
It hoped that following finalisation of the deal after five months of bitter negotiations, the stalled talks on the proposed India-Luxembourg Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) would resume to enable its conclusion at the earliest.
"We are happy with the deal. We are satisfied because the headquarters of such a big company will be based in Luxembourg," Luc Decker, spokesman for Luxembourg Ministry of Economic Affairs, told media over phone from Luxembourg.
He was commenting on the deal struck by Mittal Steel and Arcelor Steel last night under which the company owned by NRI L N Mittal will hold 49.5 per cent in the new firm Arcelor-Mittal.
Luxembourg government, which has 5.6 per cent stake in Arcelor, had opposed Mittal's bid, saying it doubted his intentions on takeover and wanted him to "explain more" on why he was taking the step that appeared more of a "financial project rather than an industrial one".
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On his government's apprehensions with regard to governance and interest of shareholders, Decker said these issues had been settled satisfactorily."Shareholders can be happy as the value of shares has been increased (by Mittal)," he said.
The issue of governance has also been improved, the Luxembourg Economic Affairs Ministry spokesman said, pointing out that his government would continue to be represented on the board of the new company.
Luxembourg had earlier raised questions over the issue of governance, contending that Mittal was a family-run company and would not uphold the interests of workers.
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Decker said another matter of satisfaction was that the "social model has been granted".Luxembourg's Ambassador to India Paul Steinmetz, while expressing happiness over the deal, said this should now allow the two countries to resume negotiations on DTAA which had been stalled for five months.
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"Negotiations on DTAA have been blocked for the last five months. We (now) expect these negotiations to resume soon enabling the two countries to conclude it at the earliest," the envoy said.Steinmetz had earlier underlined that the Mittal-Arcelor issue was not a bilateral matter between the two countries but despite that talks have not taken place for last five months.
He said the DTAA would be beneficial for both the countries.
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