BURNS HARBOR | On Monday, Porter County took center stage in Mittal Steel Co.'s fight to acquire Arcelor SA as it showed off the newest and most automotive-steel focused U.S. production facility to dozens of foreign journalists.

The tour of the Mittal Burns Harbor plant was an attempt to convince nearly 50 media representatives from Luxembourg, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and other European countries that Mittal makes the same high-quality steel as produced by Arcelor, which is putting up a ferocious battle to prevent its hostile takeover.

"(Burns Harbor) is also a good example of someone else's plant that Mittal took over and is running successfully," said Mittal spokesman David Allen, who conducted the daylong tour.

In late January, Netherlands-based Mittal Steel made the $23 billion unanticipated, unsolicited and unwanted bid for Luxembourg-based Arcelor, the world's second largest steelmaker.

Since then, the two companies have been fighting a war of words with European leaders and rival company officials, each contending their stance is in the best interest of all stakeholders and the global steel industry.

Mittal arranged to fly the journalists to Chicago for the two-day indoctrination, first at a meeting at the Peninsula Hotel on Sunday with company President Aditya Mittal, son of company founder and Chief Executive Officer Lakshmi Mittal.

"It was very focused on talking to them in response to their need to know about the company," Allen said. "They're interested in the transaction and finding out about Burns Harbor. They heard from us and those who run our U.S. operations, which are arguably more similar to Arcelor's. He (Aditya Mittal) told them all about the business and fielded their questions."

Sunday's presentations were followed by the plant tour Monday.

Charles Bradford, one of the financial analysts who covers Mittal Steel, said the press junket is a continuation of Mittal's attempt to sway the "financial community to be in favor of its offering."

Bradford, president of New York-based Bradford Research, said the tour should have included Mittal's I/N Tec and I/N Kote, the two New Carlisle steel finishing facilities it operates in partnership with Nippon Steel.

"There's been a lot of press how Nippon steel is helping Arcelor," Bradford said. "They could have shown them the benefit of their partnership and that would have shot down the idea Nippon is helping Arcelor."

In anticipation of the tour, the company accelerated its program to change signs at the Burns Harbor plant to Mittal from the ones installed by its predecessor there, International Steel Group Inc. ISG bought the plant out from bankrupt Bethlehem Steel in 2003 and sold it and its other steel facilities to Mittal in April.

Local media were excluded from both the presentation and the tour.

"It's already unwieldy with almost 50 people with different languages," Allen said.

He also refused to allow The Times to photograph the tour or to interview the journalists participating.