Arcelor ups offer to hike stake in Brazil unit
Brussels: Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steelmaker, has hiked its offer for the shares it does not own in Brazilian subsidiary Arcelor Brasil.

Arcelor Mittal owns about 66 per cent stake in the unit would now offer 11.70 Brazilian reais (USD 5.75) in cash and 0.3568 class A common share of Arcelor Mittal for each share in Arcelor Brasil.

The floating reference price after adjustment for dividends and interest on cash would represent a total value which as of April 4, 2007, would be equivalent to 18.89 euros or 51.27 reais said Arcelor Mittal in a statement.

The company said shareholders could receive the mixture of cash and shares proposed or purely cash, with the value based on the close of Mittal shares in New York on the business day prior to the auction date.

The company said the maximum amount it would pay in cash would be 10.9 billion reais (USD 5.35 billion) and the maximum number of shares it would issue would be some 76 million, representing 5 per cent of the share capital of Arcelor Mittal.
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Billionaire investor Kerkorian to bid for Chrysler
Detroit: Kirk Kerkorian, the 89-year-old billionaire once Chrysler Corp.'s largest single shareholder, has offered to pay $4.5 billion to buy the struggling automaker from DaimlerChrysler.

Kerkorian made the offer on Thursday through investment vehicle Tracinda Corp. and told DaimlerChrysler's supervisory board that he was willing to put down a $100 million deposit as a sign of good faith.

The news sent DaimlerChrysler's U.S.-listed shares up almost 5 percent.

The offer is contingent on Chrysler working out a favorable labor contract with the United Auto Workers union, the letter said. Tracinda said it would offer the UAW and Chrysler management the opportunity to participate as equity partners in the deal.
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Consortium gearing up to bid for Dow Chemicals
London: A consortium of Middle Eastern investors and American buyout firms is preparing a $50 billion approach for Dow Chemical Co. This could turn out to be the world's biggest ever leveraged buyout said The Sunday Express, a UK tabloid paper.

The paper said a financing package had been put in place for a break-up bid of between $52 to $58 a share and an approach valuing the company at least $50 billion could appear by the end of this week.

Dow's shares closed up 35 cents at $44.47 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

At least half of the capital is being provided by investors from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman, with the rest contributed by a number of US buyout firms including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Strategic changes have been taking place at Dow in recent months and the chemicals major has been moving toward a focus on specialty chemicals.
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