Slowdown forces ArcelorMittal to write down European biz value by $4.3 bn

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ArcelorMittal turns down bid to enter EU steel project

But trade unions and local politicians reacted angrily.Reuters

ArcelorMittal and Minister president Jean-Marc Ayrault said that the move did not mean the idea of using Florange for the ULCOS "green steel" project was be permanently abandoned, nor that the deal with the French Government had been undone.

But trade unions and local politicians reacted angrily.

ArcelorMittal, which has been under fire for months in France about the plan to close permanently on the grounds they are not economically viable Florange furnaces, said it could not at this moment the ULCOS project for technical reasons.

"(This) is perfectly coherent with what is in the agreement signed with the French Government," she said, adding: "this in no way means the ULCOS project has been abandoned."

Ayrault, whose Government was appointed by Francois Hollande, after the Socialist elected president in may, was said in a statement that the European Commission had indicated that the project can be pursued in a future entry.

Even in the best case, a possible start date would now be delayed by several years, throwing into question the idea that ArcelorMittal spending money to keep its shut down Florange ovens viable turnkey would love.

"LIARS"

"We have been cheated. They are liars, "said Michel Liegbott, a Socialist legislator for the surrounding region Moselle, BFM television. "They should have said what they say today, six months or a year ago."

CFDT union leader Edouard Martin told French media that ArcelorMittal had "deceived everyone" and vowed to restart the fight to keep operational Florange.

Ayrault own industry Minister, left-wing Arnaud Montebourg, waves had created before the deal was struck by the steel company Indian chief executive Lakshmi Mittal of "shameless lies" and said that he was no longer welcome in France to accuse.

Agreement last week, including ArcelorMittal has committed to the conservation of approximately 630 jobs on the two blast furnaces, was a crucial test for the Hollande pledge to a run of industrial layoffs and revive the result also French competitiveness.

France's unemployment hit a new 13-year high of 10.3 percent in the third quarter of the year, data showed on Thursday, who has vowed to put more pressure on Hollande, stack the rise to discontinue by the end of 2013.

ArcelorMittal had agreed with 180 million euros in Florange investing and the ovens to keep in State so they can be used if its application to use the site for the ULCOS project was successful.

ULCOS (Ultra-Low carbon steel production) is a consortium of 48 European companies and other organizations that for the development of ways to cut CO2 emissions from steel production to curb greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

A spokesman for the European Commission confirmed on Thursday that the written notification of ArcelorMittal that it had decided to bid are "due to technical problems" attract have received.

Reuters

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ArcelorMittal gets nod for Arctic ironore venture

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France strikes deal with ArcelorMittal steel factory

Workers at the factory said that the announcement fell far short of what they had hoped of a Government. Reuters

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault ArcelorMittal, under fire for the Corus site 18 months ago, said 180 million euros would invest and there would be no redundancies among some 630 employees there had promised.

Marceau said that the two ovens in Florange, a small town of about 11,000 people near the border with Germany, not restarted for now, certain weak European steel demand.

ArcelorMittal would keep them functioning, however, for future use in a test project for environmentally friendly production of steel.

"The Government decided against the idea of a temporary nationalization that was driven in recent days," Ayrault told reporters, three hours before a midnight deadline to strike a deal. "The excluded that option the commitments secured from ArcelorMittal."

Marceau said that the investment would strengthen cold steel and packaging operations at Florange and safe employment in those areas. ArcelorMittal had promised that its investment in Florange in France would not come at the expense of other branches.

The deal, the result of months of negotiations, came as the Italian cabinet was convened for the approval of a bailout for ILVA, Europe's largest steel company, which has 20,000 employees and is threatened with closure after allegations that the emissions from the site had caused an environmental disaster.

Labor leaders of the Florange site responded to fight angry and vowed to ensure that what concessions had his pressed from ArcelorMittal were respected.

"We have been betrayed," said Edouard Martin, a member of the CFDT Union at the Florange ovens, told reporters.

"This is incredible, if that is what politics is about, what a joke," said Walter Broccoli of the Union FO.

The European steel industry suffers from overcapacity at a time of recession in the euro area and cheap competition in emerging markets.

Florange, located in the French former industrial heartland, is symbolic of the country long industrial decline and a test case for whether the President of the Socialist Francois Hollande can make good on a vow to reverse a relentless rise in unemployment.

ArcelorMittal said earlier this year the Florange site two ovens were not viable, but Hollande insisted they be kept open and threatened of a takeover by the temporary state of the site, while the Government requested a permanent buyer.

The two blast furnaces in service approximately 630 from the 2,700 workers together on the entire site.

Marceau offered no details about what workers than not be fired, or a timetable for future projects would do to the use of credits from the European Union for the production of environmentally friendly steel furnaces refresh.

MONTEBOURG HUDDLE

De Hollande Government faced criticism from business leaders this week about roars of the threat to nationalize Florange.

Minister of industry Arnaud Montebourg, which foreign investors this week by Arcelor to say the Indian chief executive, Lakshmi Mittal, no longer welcome in France was shocked, had said that the Government had identified an industrial ready to inject EUR 400 million in the site.

Montebourg huddled in a cafe with a group of Orange-vested Metalworkers protest near the Ministry of finance, telling them earlier on Friday, was still a nationalization option.

Hollande, who fights to calm down both left-wing voters angry at unemployment and foreign investors impatient to see structural reforms, is still wary of the stigma that even a temporary nationalization abroad would wear.

Officials had defended the idea of a temporary nationalization, says that it was a special case because ArcelorMittal had broken promises to keep the furnaces which is running.

But ArcelorMittal denies violating obligations. Sources close to the group say Arcelor planned in 2003 for its 2006 takeover by Mittal

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France, ArcelorMittal Florange site deepens clash over

French President Francois Hollande has threatened to nationalize plant owned by the steel producer. Reuters

French President Francois Hollande has threatened to nationalize plant owned by the steel producer. Earlier, Industry Minister threatened Arnaud Montebourg that the multinational no longer welcome in the country, British daily ' The Telegraph ' has reported.

Hollande and Lakshmi Mittal meeting for about an hour yesterday, but reports suggested that it brought little progress. Citing a presidential statement, the daily said, "discussions between the State and the company (would) remain" until Saturday, trying to find a new investor for the site.

According to the report, came the Hollande nationalization warning if forty members from his Socialist Party said that they favored a temporary acquisition by the French State of the ArcelorMittal plant in Florange. Allocation to a joint statement by 40 parliamentarians, said the daily, "Mittal does not respect our country".

The report said the President and CEO of the steel giant is locked in a fight with France on the future of the Florange site in the heart of the traditional, but falling, of the French steel industry in the Eastern Lorraine region.

ArcelorMittal has said that the two blast furnaces at Florange were non-competitive in a difficult trading climate.
Going by the report, the company gave the Government two months expiring on Saturday to find a buyer for them. The Government says it has two offers, but only for the entire Florange site, including other installations, which ArcelorMittal wants to retain and to keep active, added.

According to the daily ArcelorMittal has warned that nationalisation of the Florange facilities would threaten the viability of all its activities across France, where there are 20,000 people work.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that according to the French Government, it would be difficult to sell without other ArcelorMittal's Florange plant furnaces factory, which further refined and ends steel, mostly for the automotive industry.

PTI

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