Frankfurt: Mittals Steel's European Chief Executive Officer, Roeland Baan told AFP today that they could settle for a minority stake in the Arcelor and Severstal combine.
"It may be that at the end of the day we will hold 40 per cent of the combined Arcelor and Severstal group," Baan said.
Last week, Mittal launched a concrete takeover offer for Arcelor on condition it secures more than 50 per cent of the European steel maker.
But the announcement last Friday of Arcelor's plans to merge with Severstal has thrown a spanner in the works for Mittal.
Meanwhile Arcelor shareholders will be meeting today for the first time, after the Severstal deal has been announced Luxembourg-based Arcelor's Chief executive Guy Dolle and Alexey Mordashov of Russia's Severstal will seek to convince investors to support their merger plans, compared to the € 23.8 billion takeover by L N Mittal.
According to reports shareholders are concerned that Arcelor may be overpaying for its Russian rival.
They have demanded to see a deutsche bank report, which justifies Severstal's €13 billion tag.
According to Dolle the deal would create cost savings of more than € 500 million. The merged entity is sited to become world's largest steel producer.
If Severstal, which belongs to Alexei Mordashov, secures 32 per cent of Arcelor, it will be nearly impossible for Mittal to acquire the majority.
"With more than 20 per cent, we will be able to call a general assembly any time," Baan said. "That would give us a lot of power. We'd rather have that sort of influence than no influence at all."
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