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BY ANDREA HOLECEK
holecek@nwitimes.com
219.933.3316 | Tuesday, April 26, 2005 | (No comments posted.)
EAST CHICAGO | Northwest Indiana? Chicago? The suburbs? Mittal Steel USA isn't giving any hints or doesn't yet know where it's planning to locate its new headquarters.
After the recent merger of Mittal Steel N.V.'s U.S. subsidiary, Ispat Inland Inc., and International Steel Group Inc., which created Mittal Steel USA, the company announced it would be led by Lou Schorsch and have its headquarters in the region.
"We've been looking in Chicago and Northwest Indiana for the best location," company spokesman David Allen said Monday.
"Moving doesn't have to be immediate. We can function this way. We're looking at all options."
When Ispat Inland and ISG announced their consolidation in October, five top Indiana officials -- U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind.; Sens. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., and Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; then-Gov. Joe Kernan and Gov.-elect Mitch Daniels -- asked that Northwest Indiana be selected as the location for the headquarters of what is now the world's largest steel company.
The letter was addressed to Rodney Mott, ISG's chief executive officer, who had been slated to lead Mittal Steel USA. However, Mott, of Richfield, Ohio, decided to retire when the $4.5 billion purchase of ISG was completed. And Mott was replaced by the Ispat Inland CEO Schorsch.
Schorsch, a resident of Evanston, has offices both at the building that formerly was Ispat Inland's headquarters in East Chicago and in the company's sales and marketing offices at 30 W. Monroe St. in Chicago.
The company's Chicago office is too small to be Mittal Steel USA headquarters, Allen said. But he said he doesn't know if there is more office space available in the building.
The East Chicago office building could "possibly" be large enough to be the company's U.S. headquarters.
But there would have to be "some shifting" of those currently located there, Allen said.
Schorsch currently is out of the country, either at Mittal's headquarters in London, or at one of the company's facilities throughout the world, Allen said.
The office building used as headquarters for ISG in Richfield, Ohio, will house Mittal Steel USA's Eastern division offices.
Before the merger, there were 65 people based in the office; that number is expected to be cut by about 50 percent through relocations to the Chicago/Northwest Indiana region and terminations, according to published reports.
The former ISG Burns Harbor office building is headquarters for the company's Western division headed by John Mang, former ISG Burns Harbor plant manager. Mang is charged with integrating the two Indiana Harbor mills and determining the staffing of the combined plant.
Which positions will be located at the new Mittal headquarters:
CEO Lou Schorsch's office
General counsel and secretary
Vice president of labor relations
Director of purchasing
Vice president of sales and marketing
Manager of investor relations
Other various team members
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