Mittal's Maryland plant may draw bids from major global firms

New York: Mittal Steel Co, which has to comply with the order of the US department of justice to sell a plant in Maryland, is expected to draw bids from major companies in India, China and Russia, as the number of plants for sale is dwindles, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday Thursday.

The report says that Mittal's Sparrows Point Plant, near Baltimore, is more accessible than inland operations for imports of raw materials and exports of steel. It can produce about 3.9-million tonnes of steel a year, including 500,000-tonnes of tin plate used to make cans for food, aerosols, paints and other products and the journal said it could fetch upwards of 1 billion dollars.

Arcelor Mittal, the world''s largest steel producer, cancelled an agreement to sell a mill in West Virginia after the US ordered the company to sell its Maryland plant to preserve competition in the tinplate market.

The agreement to sell the mill in Weirton to Esmark Inc, a Chicago-based steel company, is "no longer valid," chief financial officer Aditya Mittal was quoted as telling analysts.

The company will keep the plant and instead sell a tinplate mill in sparrows point near Baltimore, he said. Mittal planned to sell the Weirton Mill to satisfy the US Antitrust requirements following the company''s 38.3 billion dollars acquisition of Arcelor SA last year.