Steel Firms May Announce 3-Way Merger

Luxembourg’s Arbed, France’s Usinor and Aceralia of Spain appeared poised to announce today a three-way merger to create the world’s biggest steel firm. A Usinor spokesman said the companies had scheduled a news conference this morning. A combined company would have about $27 billion a year in sales. Arbed, Usinor and Aceralia announced Friday that they were in talks that could lead to a combination of all their activities. The Usinor spokesman declined to give any details about the outcome of the talks. An Arbed spokesman declined to comment beyond confirming the news conference plans. According to 1999 data, the three would have combined output of 44 million tonnes of crude steel a year, dwarfing the approximately 26 million tonnes made by the current No. 1, Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. The Financial Times online edition on Sunday said the three would form a new firm headquartered in Luxembourg that would tender an offer for the companies’ outstanding shares.