Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said on Thursday he and ArcelorMittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal would look for a compromise to the issue of the company's investment commitments in Ukraine.
ArcelorMittal said this month it was afraid it could lose its plant in Ukraine, bought for $4.8 billion in 2005, due to a lawsuit filed by the state prosecutor over delays in the implementation of an investment programme.
The case has since been dropped, but, as Yanukovich’s office indicated on Thursday, the issue remains on the agenda and was discussed when Yanukovich met Mittal in Kyiv.
"I think we can discuss these issues and find a compromise," Yanukovich’s office quoted him as saying.
It provided no other details. In the dropped lawsuit, the prosecutor had alleged ArcelorMittal violated terms of its purchase of the eastern Ukrainian plant by delaying investment without valid permission.
ArcelorMittal said it had reached a legal agreement with Ukraine’s State Property Fund to put off investment commitments after declaring force majeure in the global downturn of 2008-9.
Some commentators had linked the case to the political change of guard in Ukraine, in which Yanukovich took over last February from Viktor Yushchenko — who had sold it to ArcelorMittal — and speculated the plant could be nationalised and put up for sale again. Yanukovich has since ruled out nationalisation.
