Outgoing Arrium chairman Peter Smedley said he has “no doubt" he was right to reject the $1.2 billion takeover from a Posco-led consortium in 2012 as the mining and steel group announced Jerry Maycock as its new chair.

Pressured by balance sheet concerns and the 34 per cent slide in iron ore prices over the past year, Arrium shares are fetching around 76¢, below the 88¢-a-share offer Steelmakers Australia put on the table two years ago.