London: Steel tycoon L N Mittal has said he is "pleasantly surprised" at how complementary the $34.3 billion merger of his company Mittal Steel with its nearest rival Arcelor has proved to be.
In an interview to a business daily, Mittal says although he is not the CEO of the merged entity Arcelor-Mittal, he would play a role in setting future strategy and looking at growth opportunities.
"I have been pleasantly surprised at how complementary Mittal Steel and Arcelor have turned out to be. I have now met a lot of top Arcelor managers – about 35 in total – and I have been very impressed with nearly all of them," he said.
The NRI entrepreneur had earlier in 2006 succeeded in merging Luxembourg-based Arcelor with his company after a five-month battle to create an empire that employs 3,20,000 people and produces more than 110 million tonnes of steel, nearly 10 per cent of global steel output.
Mittal, who is president of Arcelor-Mittal, said the takeover puts the world's largest steel company ahead of the competition by many years.
"We are a new benchmark for the industry and I'd like to see other players move forward as well through their own consolidation efforts," he said.
As part of the merger, about 35 teams of managers from the two companies have started working together, he said, adding the teams are under pressure to deliver results.
Asked about his own role in the new entity, Mittal said as non-executive chairman he will play a part in setting strategy, giving a vision for the company, looking at growth opportunities, talking to employees, strategic investors and overseeing and helping the integration.
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