Lakshmi N. Mittal to become Executive Chairman; Aditya Mittal appointed Chief Executive Officer
The Board of Directors of ArcelorMittal has announced that Aditya Mittal, currently President, CFO, and CEO ArcelorMittal Europe, will become Chief Executive Officer of the company. Lakshmi N. Mittal, who founded the company in 1976 and is currently Chairman and CEO, will become Executive Chairman. In this position, he will continue to lead the Board of Directors and work together with the CEO and management team.
Commenting, Lakshmi Mittal said, “Despite the obvious challenges of 2020, ArcelorMittal starts 2021 in a position of comparative strength. Having achieved some key strategic targets, this seems like the right moment to transition to Executive Chairman and the Board unanimously agree that Aditya Mittal is the natural and right choice to be the company’s Chief Executive. We have worked closely together since he joined the company in 1997, indeed in recent years we have effectively been managing the company together. He has an unrivalled knowledge of the business and a keen sense of how the company must continue to transform to remain the world’s leading steel company. As Chief Executive, he will be taking on the effective day to day running of the company, but we will continue to work very closely together and I remain as fascinated, engaged and committed to the company’s long-term success as ever. I am looking forward to this next chapter.”
Aditya Mittal said, “It is an honour to be appointed Chief Executive of ArcelorMittal. Mr Mittal built ArcelorMittal from a greenfield rolling mill in Indonesia to become the world’s leading steel company. It is an extraordinary achievement and I am privileged to have witnessed and been part of so much of that journey. I’m excited about what lies ahead. ArcelorMittal is full of incredible people, a company with excellent knowledge and capabilities and a company with tremendous potential.
“The world is transforming at a very rapid pace and this change brings challenges but also many opportunities for ArcelorMittal. The biggest challenge, but also the biggest opportunity, will be to demonstrate that steel can decarbonize and indeed is the perfect material for a circular economy. This will undoubtedly be a critical driver of our strategy in the coming years and decades. That Mr. Mittal will remain very involved as Executive Chairman is a great advantage – his wisdom, knowledge, and insight will be invaluable and I look forward to us continuing to work very closely together for many years to come.” he added
Lakshmi Mittal founded what became ArcelorMittal in 1976 when he built a greenfield rolling mill in Indonesia. An early believer in the benefits consolidation could bring to the steel industry, he took his first international step in 1989 with the lease and subsequent acquisition of a steel company in Trinidad & Tobago.
This was followed by expansion into Mexico, the USA, Germany, Kazakhstan, and multiple Eastern European countries. In 2004 Mr. Mittal combined his two steel businesses, Ispat International and LNM Holdings to form Mittal Steel, while at the same time agreeing to merge with the International Steel Group of the United States.
This combination meant Mittal Steel became the world’s largest steel company, a position that was further reinforced in 2006 when Mittal Steel and Arcelor agreed to merge to create ArcelorMittal.
