Mittal family to receive $780 mn dividend payout
Steel tycoon L N Mittal's family will receive about $780 million (413 million pounds) payout next year under the guaranteed minimum dividend announced by Arcelor-Mittal on Wednesday.
By PTI |
LONDON: Steel tycoon L N Mittal's family will receive about $780 million (413 million pounds) payout next year under the guaranteed minimum dividend announced by Arcelor-Mittal on Wednesday.
Speaking to investors for the first time since the merger was completed in August, Mittal, the company's president, said that Arcelor-Mittal would guarantee to pay $1.30 per share from 2007.
On a fully diluted basis, the Mittal family would have a 43.5 per cent stake in the company.
He also told investors that the combined group would achieve earnings of $20 billion by 2008, a $5 billion improvement on 2006 earnings forecast.
Aditya Mittal, chief finance officer for the combined company and son of L N Mittal, said that the new policy reflected the economic strength of Arcelor-Mittal and demonstrated the company's confidence in itself and in the steel industry.
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Arcelor-Mittal said that it would return 30 per cent of net income to shareholders every year. If the annual base dividend of $1.30 per share fell short of 30 per cent of net income, the company would conduct a share buyback until that level of payout was reached.The Times, daily on Thursday quoted Aditya Mittal as saying that the merger between the two companies was going "beautifully."
"It's much better than any of us could have expected," he said. "Together we are a much stronger organisation. There is a real buzz, an excitement about the place." Aditya said the two companies had complementary skills and were already learning from each other.
"Mittal Steel had a more performance-oriented culture, while Arcelor had a more systems-oriented culture. But Mittal Steel had grown so fast that it did not have adequate systems and we can really learn from them."
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The finance director, who also has responsibility for mergers and acquisitions, said that the combined company would not take its foot off the acquisition pedal. "Mittal Steel never took a break from acquisitions. We have consolidated along the way and I think we will carry on doing the same," he said.A further deal on the scale of Arcelor and Mittal's merger was unlikely, he said, but the company would continue to look for smaller acquisitions and participate in industry auctions or privatizations.
The regions from which the company expects to see the most growth are Central America, Central Asia and Asia. Arcelor-Mittal is hoping that the Chinese Government would relax its rules on foreign ownership, allowing Arcelor-Mittal to take controlling stakes in the companies where at present it has only minority holdings.
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