ArcelorMittal to acquire DSTC

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest integrated metals and mining company, announced yesterday it intends to acquire 60 per cent of the share capital of DSTC, a newly incorporated company located in Jebel Ali free zone.

An agreement has been signed and the details will be finalised shortly, a spokesman for ArcelorMittal told Emirates Business. "Negotiations on details are still going on," said Finance Manager Chandresh Maniar of DSTC.

Together with the freezone based DSTC, ArcelorMittal is widening its offering in the Middle East. DSTC FZCO will acquire the main business of UAE distributor Dubai Steel Trading Company LLC. This new acquisition is the first step towards the creation of a full-fledged distribution network in the GCC for the distribution of long and flat steel products such as beams, plates and hollow sections.

Philippe Darmayan, CEO of ArcelorMittal Steel Solutions and Services, said: "This is an important partnership that will spearhead our distribution network in the Middle East."

DSTC has a 450,000 sqft stockyard in Al Quoz Industrial Area for steel storage. Its customer base is spread across the UAE, Gulf, the Far East and the Subcontinent.

The company caters to the local and international market in fabrication, steel construction and the oil and gas sector. Dubai Steel Trading stocks about 30,000 metric tonnes at any given time.

"We are ancilliary to the oilfield suppliers and mainly serve fabricators and oil field suppliers," Maniar said.

A spokesman for ArcelorMittal said the agreement had been signed and details would be finalised in the weeks ahead. "AreclorMittal has a three-dimensional growth strategy in terms of products, value-chain and geography and we assess opportunities in terms of these three criteria. In terms of business, DSTC is the right fit and provides value to us in terms of who it supplies to," he said. "We have already signed the agreement but since we are in the midst of completing various formalities it will take some time. We cannot be precise – the process could take from two weeks to two months or even more."

ArcelorMittal has an IT presence in Dubai as well as a sales office to handle the demand that has risen from the current construction boom in the region.

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