No reason to sell Arcelor shrs: L'bourg

L'bourg PM was, however, not satisfied with changes to the country's takeover law which could hurt Mittal's Arcelor bid.

In a dampener to NRI Steel tycoon Laksmi Mittal's $22.7 billion bid to take over rival Arcelor, the Luxembourg Government, the largest shareholder in the firm, on Friday made it clear that it has no reason to sell the shares in the near future.

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"There is no reason to sell the Arcelor shares in the near future," Guy Schulles, spokesperson for the Luxembourg government said over the telephone from Brussels.

Schulles said the Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker has also made this clear in Brussels.

Juncker also said he was not satisfied with draft changes introduced by the Parliament to the country's takeover law, which may help Arcelor fend off Mittal Steel's unsolicited bid.

"The government considers that this way of legal prohibiting is not the Luxembourg way and is not according to our tradition," Juncker said on Thursday, referring to the draft changes.

The Prime Minister said the government would not take any legal steps or actions and that it was up to the shareholders to decide whether to accept Mittal bid.