LUXEMBOURG-ARCELOR-TAKEOVER-STEEL-DOLLE

A man walks in front of the European steel producer Arcelor’s headquarters, 24 June 2006 in Luxembourg. Decision time was looming for Arcelor as marathon talks intensified on Saturday ahead of a board meeting that will decide which other steelmaker to take down the aisle, sources following the discussions said. Arcelor has spurned Mittal’s unwelcome advances for the past five months, and earlier this month formally rejected Netherlands-based Mittal’s 25.8 billion euro (32.3 billion dollar) hostile bid. But Mittal is now said to be tabling a substantially higher offer which may prompt Arcelor to succumb finally to its advances.