Mittal Steel has announced that following coordination among the European regulators, the information document relating to its offer for Arcelor shares and convertible bonds was approved by the Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, the Belgian Commission Bancaire, Financière et des Assurances and the French Autorité des marches financiers. The information document is expected to be approved by the Spanish Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores in the near future. The regulators said the offer document will also contain a formal response giving Arcelor management’s views on the bid. The Dutch Autoriteit Financiële Markten also approved the share listing prospectus prepared for the issuance of new Mittal Steel class A common shares in connection with the Offer and for the admission of such shares to trading on Euronext Amsterdam, Euronext Brussels, Euronext Paris, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and the Spanish Stock Exchanges. This share listing prospectus is âpassportedâ? into Luxembourg, Belgium, France and Spain under EU prospectus legislation. The acceptance period for the Offer in Luxembourg, Belgium and France will start on the date on which the information document will be published ie on 18 May 2006 except in Spain, where the acceptance period will commence on the date indicated in the Spanish version of the information document. The acceptance period for the Offer in the USA will start on the date that the registration statement on Form F-4 currently under review by the SEC is declared effective. The formal launch of the bid will finally give Arcelor shareholders the chance to decide the company’s fate, four months after Mittal launched its surprise takeover effort.
