May 15 (SeeNews) - Lakshmi Mittal, CEO of steel maker ArcelorMittal, has warned state leaders of Bosnia he will seek international arbitration if the Serb Republic entity sells its majority stake in mining company RZR Ljubija to Israeli Investment Group, Bosnian media reported.
In his letter, Lakshmi Mittal wrote that the company is ready to take all necessary steps, including legal action, to protect its interests and contractual rights, news broadcaster ATV reported late on Friday.
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In April, the Serb Republic announced it has accepted an offer from the Israeli group for the purchase of a 64.9% stake in RZR Ljubija. The other bidder in the race was local iron ore mine operator ArcelorMittal Prijedor, who is a joint venture of ArcelorMittal and RZR Ljubija.
ArcelorMittal believes that if the mine is sold to the Israeli investor, all of ArcelorMittal's employees in Bosnia will be faced with negative consequences, according to the media report.
In April, the government of the Serb Republic said it assessed the offer made by Israeli Investment Group Inc. as significantly better than the rival bid.
Since then, the workers of ArcelorMittal Prijedor have launched protest action against the government decision.
The Serb Republic is one of two autonomous entities forming Bosnia. The other one is the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.