ArcelorMittal SA turns down buyout offer

Johannesburg : Arcelor MittalSouth Africa (AMSA) has rejected a 19-billion rand buyout offer by local firm Networth Investments. Networth had planned to transform the country’s struggling steel industry with green technology and more profitable stainless-steel production based on models in India.

Networth CEO Harold Vermaak told the daily Business Report that his company had put in an offer to buy out Arcelor Mittal Group’s 60 per cent shareholding in AMSA, and around 2 per cent of AMSA’s shares held by other foreign investors, in a leveraged buyout. However, a spokesperson of ArcelorMittal told the daily, “the correspondence (it had received from Networth Investments) does not reflect a firm or a bona fide offer. There is, therefore, no offer to be considered”.

Vermaak said that the strategy was to convert AMSA over time so that it ceases to produce low-value-priced products, and rather produces higher value products such as stainless steel.