Drishtikone
Read these two stories:
- – Kazakh head to Delhi: tap our Caspian Sea oilfield
- – ONGC-Mittal Combine win Nigerian Oil Blocks!!
These two stories amply demonstrates the importance of Mittal and his "alliance" with the Indian Govt.!! While Mittal has links with the Central Asian Companies which are strong in Oil and Gas – which helps GOI win against the Chinese. Remember the Chinese beat India in Kazakh Oil Deal.. Its then that Govt of India joined hands with Mittal in its Oil endeavors! Govt. of India can pressurize the Europeans into such deals as Arcelor! Its a winning alliance!! Now this story:
India had taken strong exception to Arcelor’s largest shareholder Luxembourg’s “unprincipled opposition” to Mittal Steel’s bid and had warned that their double taxation accord might not be ratified unless the deal came through, sources told FE.
But for the government’s stance, the Arcelor Mittal union announced dramatically last week might not have been possible.
The government’s position was conveyed to Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker in early February. Arcelor is headquartered in Luxembourg.
Until last week, Luxembourg was the single largest shareholder in Arcelor with a 5.6% stake. It was the most vocal opponent of the takeover in the initial days but did a U-turn last week, saying that concessions made by Mittal Steel now allowed it to back the deal.
Arcelor yielded to Mittal’s $31.92-billion offer last Sunday, ending the five-month takeover battle in which Russia ‘s Severstal was given the cold shoulder by Arcelor.
While refusing to confirm or deny New Delhi’s involvement in the matter, commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath told FE that the deal was a demonstration of India’s entrepreneurial abilities.
The merger, which has created the world’s largest steel maker, Arcelor Mittal, almost seemed impossible a few months ago due to strong opposition by France and Luxembourg on grounds of ethnicity.
Though publicly the government continued to maintain that the Arcelor-Mittal controversy was to be decided by their respective stakeholders, intense behind-the-scenes lobbying with the French and Luxembourg governments by India did play a critical role in steering the deal to closure.
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