U.S. DOJ Requires Divestiture by Mittal Steel to Preserve Competition in the Tin Mill Products Industry

On Tuesday, February 20, 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it will require Mittal Steel Company N.V. to divest its Sparrows Point facility in Maryland to counteract competitive harm resulting from Mittal's recently proposed $33 billion acquisition of Arcelor S.A. According to the DOJ, Mittal's acquisition would have substantially lessened competition in the market for tin mill products in the eastern United States. Therefore, the DOJ's proposed consent decree will require Mittal to divest Dofasco Inc., a Canadian company owned by Arcelor, which the DOJ recognized may not be possible due to Arcelor's placement of legal title of Dofasco into a Dutch foundation in an attempt to defeat Mittal's hostile takeover bid. Thus, the DOJ proposed that if the sale of Dofasco cannot be carried out, then the DOJ will require Mittal to divest its Sparrows Point mill.