Once the Arcelor-Mittal merger is completed, and if Arcelor executives hold enough clout in the new company, it is possible that a North American asset other than Dofasco could be sold to appease US competition regulators. In early May, US Justice Department antitrust officials gave Mittal provisional approval of the proposed hook-up provided it sold Dofasco to ThyssenKrupp. The government said at the time that it would continue “to investigate the competitive implications of the combination of Mittal and Arcelor” but that it believed the Canadian steelmaker had to be sold. Otherwise, Justice says Mittal must “divest certain alternative assets to a buyer acceptable to the department.” Observers tell Steel Business Briefing the other assets are likely to be either Mittal’s Sparrows Point, Maryland or Weirton, West Virginia operations, both of which produce tin mill products.
