Mittal's US plant sale may draw bidders from India, Russia and China: WSJ

Mumbai: Mittal Steel, which is expected to sell a plant in Maryland, US under orders from the justice department, is expected to draw bids from big companies in China, Russia and India for the facility, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Bidders could include JSW Steel Ltd or Ispat Industries Ltd from India, the Evraz group or OAO Severstal group of Russia - both of which already own US operations - as also Wuhan Steel Corporation and Anshan Iron & Steel Group Corporation of China, the paper said.

Other potential bidders may include Germany's ThyssenKrupp and Brazil's Companhia Siderurgica Nacional, the paper said. However, a spokesman for ThyssenKrupp, which has expressed interest in acquiring firms only that fit well with its focus on high-quality carbon flat steel, reaffirmed it had "no interest" in Sparrows Point.

The German steelmaker had hoped the US authorities would ask Mittal to divest Dofasco - a specialist in high-quality carbon flat steel - to address competition concerns. The antitrust authorities, however, said the sale of the plant in Sparrows Point, near Baltimore, would remedy competition concerns created by Arcelor-Mittal deal.

Prior to its bid for Arcelor, Mittal had contractually agreed to sell Dofasco to ThyssenKrupp should it succeed in buying Arcelor but backed out after deal. Arcelor placed Dofasco in the independent control of a Dutch foundation, and the latter has refused to dissolve the arrangement and allow the sale, despite the merger of Arcelor and Mittal.