Russia's largest steel producer Severstal has said it had finalised a deal to purchase the US-based Sparrows Point steel mill from ArcelorMittal for US$810 million.

The US Department of Justice demanded in February 2007 that ArcelorMittal sell Sparrows Point, located in Baltimore County, Maryland, in a bid to prevent the monopolisation of the market after the merger of Mittal Steel and Luxemburg Arcelor.

It then approved in mid-April Severstal's bid to purchase the steel mill.

ArcelorMittal was created in 2006 as a result of a merger between Mittal Steel owned by India-born tycoon L.N. Mittal and Luxembourg Arcelor with Mittal holding a controlling interest.

It is now the world's largest steel producing company and controls 10 percent of global steel output.