Lakshmi Mittal's ArcelorMittal shareholders approve raising authorised capital

Shareholders of ArcelorMittal on Thursday approved increasing the company's authorised share capital, a step towards launching its proposed rights offering.

The resolution to "increase the company's authorised share capital including the authorisation to limit or cancel the shareholders' preferential subscription rights," has been cleared by the shareholders, the company said in a press release.

The shareholders also approved the resolution "to reduce the share capital of the company without distribution to shareholders, in order to reduce the par value of the shares in the company to an amount of 10 euro cents per share (approved with 98.97% of the vote).

The company further said the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of ArcelorMittal shareholders, held today in Luxembourg, approved both resolutions with a large majority. ArcelorMittal's $3 billion rights issue is expected to open on March 14 as the steel giant tries to reduce debt after its losses widened seven-fold in 2015 to $7.9 billion.

Last month, the Luxembourg-headquartered steelmaker had announced plans to reduce its $15.7 billion net debt by nearly a quarter.