Mittal Steel, one of the world's largest steel producers, is due to complete its USD4.5bn acquisition of US firm ISG next month, making it one of the largest global firms of its kind. However, Lakshmi Mittal has told investors the combined company will have to shed thousands of jobs. Mr Mittal told US investors that once the acquisition of International Steel Group was completed, the company would aim to reduce its workforce by between 7 000 and 8 000 annually by 2010. We are investing in modernisation so employees will go down, Mr Mittal told the conference in Chicago. Mittal Steel features the following workforce distribution: 50 000 in Kazakhstan, 18 000 in Romania, 12 000 in Czech Republic, 10 000 in South Africa, 6 500 in the United States. Mittal Steel was formed last year when Mr Mittal's LNM Holdings merged with Dutch firm Ispat. A combination of Mittal Steel and ISG would have annual sales of USD32bn and a production capacity of 70 million tonnes. Now Mr Mittal is thinking about the acquisition of Polish and Ukrainian steel producers.
