ArcelorMittal Faces Headwinds With The Global Steel Industry

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This is a turning point for ArcelorMittal. On Thursday March 10, steel world number one's shareholds met in Luxembourg and approved a capital increase of 3 billion dollars. The resolution was carried by an overwhelming majority: 97% of the voters agreed. Unveiled on February 4, this operation should be regarded as a way to recover from a 15.7 billion record debt load in 2015. The Director of the Company Lakshmi Mittal's family, a reference shareholder with 37% of the shares and voting rights, committed to raise funds. In order to avoid diluting, this will respect the number of itsshares held. It will cost 1.1 billion dollars.

The shareholders also approved the resolution "to reduce the share capital of the company without distribution to shareholders, in order to reduce the par value of the shares in the company to an amount of 10 euro cents per share (approved with 98.97% of the vote).

The company further said the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of ArcelorMittal shareholders, held today in Luxembourg, approved both resolutions with a large majority. ArcelorMittal's $3 billion rights issue is expected to open on March 14 as the steel giant tries to reduce debt after its losses widened seven-fold in 2015 to $7.9 billion.

Last month, the Luxembourg-headquartered steelmaker had announced plans to reduce its $15.7 billion net debt by nearly a quarter.