ArcelorMittal to Spin Off Stainless-Steel Unit

The world's biggest steelmaker plans to spin off its stainless-steel business in the first quarter of 2011.
By Joseph Woelfel ,

LUXEMBOURG (

TheStreet

) -

ArcelorMittal

(MT) - Get Report

, the world's biggest steelmaker, plans to spin off its stainless-steel business in the first quarter of 2011.

ArcelorMittal, in a press statement Wednesday, said it will record a noncash impairment charge of about $800 million from the spinoff.

Following the spinoff, the stainless-steel business will have about $1 billion of net financial debt, made up of a combination of existing ArcelorMittal debt transferring with the stainless-steel business and new debt raised by the business.

Shares of the stainless-steel business shares will be listed on Euronext Paris, Amsterdam and in Luxembourg. In the United States, the shares will trade on the over-the-counter market in the form of New York registry shares, the steelmaker said.

ArcelorMittal

first said back in July it was evaluating a spinoff of the stainless-steel division.

ArcelorMittal's stainless-steel division posted $258 million of earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization last year, according to the

Wall Street Journal

, down from $934 million in 2008. On a five-year average, EBITDA was $760 million, accounting for 5% of total company EBITDA over the same period, the

Journal

says.

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel

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