BRITAIN’s richest man, the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, will fly to France this week to meet ministers in an effort to avert political protests about his audacious $23 billion bid for Arcelor.

Arcelor’s board will hold an emergency meeting today, and is expected to reject the bid tomorrow. Guy Dollé, its chief executive, is expected to say that the Mittal offer — a mixture of cash and shares — undervalues the European market leader. He is also likely to attack the share structure of the proposed company. It would give the Mittal family 64% of the voting rights. Mittal has offered to move his head office from Rotterdam to Luxembourg to please Luxembourg ’s government, which holds a 5% stake in Arcelor. But he fears the biggest potential for a political backlash is in France, where Arcelor is a big employer.

“I will be going to see them (French ministers), and explaining the merits of the deal and its attraction for shareholders. We are a European-based company, so this is a European company buying another,” he told The Sunday Times.

He is considering seats on the board for some Arcelor directors as he reshapes Mittal, and would ensure that the board of the merged company would have a majority of independent non-executive directors.

He rejected criticism of the proposed share structure giving family shares double the voting rights of ordinary shares by saying that Europe had a history of family-controlled companies.

City sources thought he might have to raise his offer of four Mittal shares plus €35.25 cash for every five Arcelor shares.

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