Arcelor had earlier said it was prepared to study Mittal's approach

Mittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, launched a 25.8bn euro ($33bn; �17.5bn) takeover bid, which Arcelor said it would consider.

But last week Arcelor announced plans to buy Russian firm Severstal in an attempt to thwart Mittal's advances.

Under the proposed deal, 32% of Arcelor will be held by Severstal's billionaire owner, Alexey Mordashov.

It would create the world's biggest steelmaker with a turnover of 46bn euros under the Arcelor name.

And it would also make it almost impossible for Mittal to get a controlling stake in the firm.

Power and influence

But in an interview with Financial Times Deutschland, Mittal's Europe chief Roeland Baan said the firm would still pursue Arcelor shares, even if the Severstal deal was completed.

"It could well be that we, in the end, have 40% of shares in the combined Arcelor and Severstal group," he said.

"With more than 20% we would be able to call an Arcelor shareholders' meeting at any time.

"This way, we would have a lot of power. And we would rather have this influence than no influence."

Confident

According to the newspaper report, Mr Baan also accused Arcelor's board of not representing its shareholders and of being driven by "egotistical motives".