ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, said on Tuesday it planned to buy the shares in ArcelorMittal Inox Brasil it does not already own for up to 3.2 billion Brazilian reais ($1.78 billion).
ArcelorMittal, which already owns 57 percent of the company, said in a statement it would offer 100.00 Brazilian reais ($55.68) per common or preferred share, a premium of 22 percent to the 60-day average preferred share market price.
It intends to delist the company. Currently, ArcelorMittal has 96 percent of the outstanding common and 36 percent of the preferred shares in its Brazilian unit. About 1.07 million common shares and 30.62 million preferred shares are eligible to be tendered in the offer.
A group of shareholders owning 157,300 common shares and 7.91 million preferred shares had already committed to sell, ArcelorMittal said. The offer's launch is dependent on approval by the Brazilian financial markets regulator CVM.
"This tender is strategically beneficial to ArcelorMittal because it not only reinforces our position in the high growth area of Latin America, but it also strengthens our position in silicon steel, ferritics and specialty stainless steel," ArcelorMittal Chief Executive Lakshmi Mittal said in the statement.