Mittal's steel deal

Mittal Steel Polska is negotiating with its own workers to buy their shares in Stalprofil. The company wants to use Stalprofil to build a distribution network.

"We have met Mittal Steel Poland [MSP] deputy CEO Jerzy Podsiadło, who said that without a controlling stake in Stalprofil the company could not build a network. We are to receive an official proposal to buy our shares. We have not received any letter yet. We will make a decision when we get it," the head of the Solidarność union in Mittal Steel Poland (MSP), Władysław Molecki, told Puls Biznesu. Posiadło said MSP could not yet publish any official offers.

However, the company's unions are probably not very popular with the firm's management. The Supreme Board of Inspection (NIK) is investigating the privatization of the firm, after it was contacted by Mittal Steel's trade unionistas.

This has not stopped the company from pressing ahead with its distribution plans. Roeland Baan, the head of European strategy at Mittal Steel, said the firm wants to build two servicing centers and competitors are anxious that they may be squeezed out of the market. 

The news boosted Stalprofil's standing on the Warsaw bourse. In mid September the company's share price was around zł.7.30 and this has since risen to about zl.10.05.