Arcelor Mittal eyes hostile bid for POSCO-paper

SEOUL, Mar 16 (Reuters) Arcelor Mittal the world's biggest steel maker, could be interested in making a hostile takeover of South Korean steel maker POSCO Co. Ltd the Korea Economic Daily said on Friday.

Citing an unnamed POSCO executive, the paper reported that a senior Arcelor Mittal executive expressed interest in POSCO's M&A strategy when he visited Seoul last month to meet POSCO chief executive Lee Ku-taek.

''That means that Arcelor Mittal has put POSCO on its M&A target list,'' the POSCO executive told the newspaper.

''The top management is pondering how to react to a potential hostile takeover bid,'' the paper quoted the source as saying.

At Thursday's close of 388,500 won POSCO is worth 33.87 trillion won (.87 billion).

POSCO, the world's third-largest steel maker, has a fragmented, foreign dominated share ownership and is seen by some as a prime target for a takeover in the wave of global consolidation that began last year when Mittal bought Arcelor to create Arcelor Mittal.

A POSCO spokeswoman could not confirm the report immediately.

REUTERS VD BST0800