Arcelor: Mittal steps up

Mittal Steel’s original bid for Arcelor was deficient in two respects. It was stingy; and Arcelor shareholders were being offered second-class paper in a largely-share proposal. Mittal’s new offer makes big strides in both areas. First, the financial terms have been improved by 34%. In hostile bids, predators almost always have to increase their original offer. But this increase is larger than normal. Second, Mittal will sweep away the two-tier share structure that would have allowed the M...