A Ukrainian court Tuesday closed a case against ArcelorMittal (MT), which the company had said threatened to overturn its purchase of a steel mill in 2005.

The case against the world's largest steel producer was closed by the judge after the general prosecutor, which had brought the case, withdrew its claim.

A spokesman for the prosecutor declined to comment on the decision to drop the case.

But Svitlana Romanova, a partner at Baker & McKenzie law firm, which represented ArcelorMittal in the case, said the prosecutor can't return to the court with the same case. She added, however, that other parties can enter claims and that she was "expecting further developments."

ArcelorMittal and the State Property Fund, the state privatization body, had stood accused of violating the terms of a 2005 agreement on purchasing a steel mill in Kryviy Rih in eastern Ukraine for $4.8 billion in 2005.

The company said it had reached an agreement in 2009 with the SPF to postpone investment commitments made in the purchase agreement.

Ukraine's general prosecution office in July launched the legal action against both ArcelorMittal's Ukrainian unit and the SPF on grounds that the amendment was improperly granted.

"We're pleased with the result," an ArcelorMittal spokesman said. "They're no longer trying to annul the agreement."

The court proceeding came at a time when Ukraine's president, Viktor Yanukovych, is championing economic reform to improve foreign investment in the country.

Christophe Cornier, a management board member at ArcelorMittal, said "we welcome the government's proposal for discussions on our operations and projects in Ukraine."

-By James Marson, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 232-9192; rcelormittal

(Devon Maylie in London contributed to this article.)
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