Lakshmi Mittal to meet French President Francois Hollande amid showdown: Source

PARIS: The head of steel giant ArcelorMittal, Lakshmi Mittal, will meet French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday amid a showdown over the steel giant's operations in France, a source close to the matter said.

The meeting will come before a Saturday deadline ArcelorMittal gave the French government to find a buyer for its shuttered blast furnaces in Florange, eastern France.

The government says it has two offers, but only for the entire site, and Mittal has refused to sell the full operation.

French authorities have raised the spectre of a temporary nationalisation of the site, prompting Mittal to warn that would threaten all of its activities in France.

The Mittal family said it was shocked at a suggestion by industrial regeneration minister Arnaud Montebourg that France no longer wanted Mittal steel in the country.