MSNBC – Prominent hedge funds have piled into the shares of Arcelor in the expectation of a higher bid from either Mittal Steel or another party.
Mittal’s unsolicited €18.6bn offer for Arcelor has drawn intense interest from UK hedge funds such as Marshall Wace and GLG Partners and US hedge funds such as Och-Ziff, Duquesne and Perry Capital, according to individuals familiar with the funds. Some funds bought Arcelor shares before the bid.
“Everyone in the hedge fund industry is looking at this deal,” said one London-based banker.
Meanwhile, Thierry Breton, French finance minister, will on Monday defend his criticism of Mittal’s Arcelor bid, arguing that there are serious corporate governance questions over the steelmaker that the French government has a right to examine.
