Gypsynan

Any body following the progress of the Mittal bid for Arcelor. I have been hooked since the bid first received a 2 page story treatment in the Globe and Mail Business section. ln In brief the UK based Laxmi Mittal group has made a hostile bid for Arcelor, an EU / France based steel maker. What has been absolutely fascinating is the response to the bid – European politicians – mostly French, but also Spanish, Belgian and from Luxembourg ( whose Govt. owns 5% of the shares) have been frothing in the mouth saying that this bid is “ ridiculous, ill planned, has no strategic vision ad infinitum. When in reality this will lead to the creation of the largest steel maker in the world – and makes all kinds of economic sense.

The most important objection seems to be that “the cultural values are not shared”. No one really explains what that means. Mittal has already met key politicians, saying that jobs will not be lost. So what bothers them exactly? The following comments from the head of Publicis seem relevant:

Lévy said he had been surprised by the move from a group whose origins were in India, even though it is British-based, when he had expected such big interventions from emerging markets, a symptom of globalisation, to emerge first from China.

"I am not saying it is positive or it is negative. But it is the kind of thing that we will see more and more.

"I was a little bit surprised personally because I was expecting this kind of hostile bid but coming from China, rather than India. I thought this would come - but I was expecting it to be more from China."

He added that Mittal’s decision to make a "quite harsh" bid for a rival would be likely to change the way that emerging market countries led by China and India, and their leading companies, were viewed in the West.

"This is not the behaviour of an emergent country," he said. "This is something that is coming from a dominant country, which is saying ‘OK, I want to buy you’. The way this decision is presented is quite harsh … solidly hostile."

He added: "I think it is an Indian deal with a British style."

Good old racism – you may be a citizen of UK but you are Indian and we do not expect Indians to make bold moves. I have been following this avidly. Rooting for Mittal. Comments?

// posted by Gypsynan @ 1:07 PM