Mr Gonzalo Urquijo CFO of Arcelor said that it is legally not possible for the combined Arcelor-Mittal group to sell Canada’s Dofasco as Mittal Steel wishes. Arcelor acquired Dofasco in February 2006 and as part of its ultimately unsuccessful strategy to ward off Mittal Steel, which had agreed to sell on Dofasco to ThyssenKrupp AG, Arcelor transferred its ownership of the Canadian steelmaker to an independent Dutch foundation in April. The foundation, Strategic Steel Stichting, was set up to prevent Dofasco from being sold in the event that Mittal Steel’s bid succeeded, and the two groups have been in dispute over the issue since agreeing to merge in late June.
