Justice Department Okays Mittal Acquisition of ISG

The acquisition of International Steel Group Inc., one of the largest steelmakers in the United States, to a steel group owned by Lakshmi Mittal has cleared U.S. antitrust scrutiny from the Justice Department.

If the deal is complete it would result in the merger of ISG with several other steel operations owned by Mittal. Mittal's Ispat International N.V. and LNM Holdings Inc., both of the Netherlands, just completed their merger into Mittal Steel Co. N.V., which will acquire ISG early next year.

The combination of ISG with Mittal operations would result in ISG plants in several states, plus a raw-materials plant in Trinidad and Tobago, with Mittal-owned operations in the United States, Eastern Europe, Mexico, South Africa, Kazakhstan and elsewhere to form the largest steel company in the world.

Mittal Steel would have the capacity to produce about 70 million tons of raw steel per year.