Steelmaker Arcelor SA said Monday its board has rejected a revised offer from Mittal Steel Co, which refused to raise its bid for its rival and criticized the value of the company’s deal with Russia’s OAO Severstal as ‘‘entirely fictitious.’’ Arcelor, which has been resisting Mittal’s bid since January, recommended that shareholders approve a deal with Severstal that sees it pay euro44 a share, above Mittal’s euro37.74 per share. But Arcelor appeared to leave the door open for Mittal, saying the Severstal transaction did not preclude Mittal’s euro25.8 billion takeover offer, and the board said officials will meet with Mittal to explore possible improvements to the bid. Mittal, however, said in a statement that it ‘‘has not made any proposal to improve the financial terms of its offer and has no intention to do so.’’ Arcelor called Mittal’s current offer ‘‘inadequate as it continues to undervalue’’ the company and called the Severstal transaction ‘‘a more attractive alternative from a strategic, financial and social point of view.’’ Luxembourg-based Arcelor valued itself at euro44 a share in an offer to buy back up to a quarter of its capital—the same price Severstal chief executive is paying to buy 32 per cent of the company.
