ArcelorMittal gets its fingers burned in Italy’s Ilva steel mill

LAKSHMI MITTAL has grown his company, ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, through a series of deals across the world. Some, like the mega-merger in 2006 with Arcelor, then Europe’s largest steel producer, were tough. Perhaps none has given Mr Mittal as much grief as the takeover of a massive steel mill in Taranto, in southern Italy. The bureaucratic and legal troubles, combined with a horrible market for steel, last month led Mr Mittal to walk away from the deal he struck with the Italian government a year ago.