A Rotterdam court on Monday ruled in favour of Arcelor Mittal in a row with minority shareholders. The court said Mittal can proceed with finalising its merger with Arcelor, of which it already owns 94 percent of the shares and that it had not been proven whether the merger will be negative for minority shareholders.
Arcelor investors who together own about 6 percent of Arcelor shares and did not offer their shares in last year's take-over, have opposed new terms for offering their shares to ArcelorMittal.
Nearly all Arcelor shareholders in 2006 accepted a 26 billion euros ($35 billion) buyout offer from Mittal Steel after an acrimonious take-over battle but investors representing 6 percent of the stocks decided not to tender their shares.
Mittal is offering a ratio of eight ArcelorMittal shares for seven in Arcelor to the minority shareholder, well below the 11 for seven offered in last year's take-over. A court in Paris will also answer a similar injunction from funds seeking to block the merger on the grounds that the exchange ratio proposed by Mittal Steel is unfair.