BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — ArcelorMittal SA, the world's largest steelmaker, said Monday it had taken control of two Costa Rican steelmakers by buying the remaining outstanding stake in the companies for an undisclosed price.
The Luxembourg-based steel business said it had bought a 50 percent stake in the rolled steel maker Laminadora Costarricense SA and wiremaker Trefileria Colima SA from the Pujol Group. Its ArcelorMittal Brazil business already owned the other 50 percent stake.
Both Costa Rican steelmakers serve the construction market in Central America and the Caribbean region. One of the companies that formed ArcelorMittal last year, Arcelor SA, first bought into the companies in 2005.
ArcelorMittal did not put a price on the deal, one of the latest in a string of purchases in Latin America where steel demand is booming.
