Lakshmi Mittal, the head of the largest steel company in the world, ArcelorMittal, is satisfied with his company's relations with the new Ukrainian government and has expressed hope that the situation around ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih (earlier Kryvorizhstal, Dnipropetrovsk region) will be resolved, taking into account the interests of the foreign investor.
"We have good relations with Ukraine," he told Interfax-Ukraine at the World Steel Association’s 44th annual conference held on October 4-6 in Tokyo.
Commenting on a move by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office to declare illegal the sale and purchase agreement for a 93.02% stake in Kryvorizhstal signed on October 24, 2005 in connection with the fulfilment of investment liabilities by the buyer, Mittal said that he knows about the situation.
"I know about this. We hope that [the government’s] attitude to ArcelorMittal will be as to a foreign investor, and the situation will be settled in the company’s favor," he said.
As reported, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine in July 2010 filed a lawsuit against the SPF and ArcelorMittal Duisburg GmbH, which was the buyer of shares in Kryvorizhstal under the agreement on the sale and purchase of October 24, 2005, to cancel an additional agreement to the sale and purchase contract of May 14, 2009, which says that fulfilment of some investment liabilities was postponed for the period of financial crisis.
