If it goes head the combined company will be among the top three steel-producing companies in the world, according to 2022 figures from the World Steel Association.
US Presdient Joe Biden has thrown his support behind an investigation of Nippon Steel’s purchase of US Steel on national security grounds, despite Japan’s status as one of Washington’s closest allies.
The price tag for U.S. Steel is nearly double what was offered just four months ago by rival Cleveland Cliffs for US Steel, which rejected that offer. The transaction is worth about $14.9 billion when including the assumption of debt. If it goes head the combined company will be among the top three steel-producing companies in the world, according to 2022 figures from the World Steel Association.
Nippon’s proposed $14.9bn acquisition of the Pittsburgh-headquartered steel producer has sparked a upset in Washington and raised a political dilemma for Biden, who has cast himself as a champion of American jobs and the most pro-union US president in decades.
US Steel, the Pittsburgh steel producer that played a key role in the nation’s industrialization, is under offer by Nippon Steel in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $14.1 billion.
US Steel has plants in Pennsylvania and Michigan, two states Biden is likely to need to win to clinch re-election in November. White House support of the investigation comes as Biden has been touting sweeping efforts to rejuvenate rust-belt communities stricken by decades of deindustrialisation. Brainard added that the deal was the “type of transaction” that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the inter-agency panel that vets deals for national security threats, was set up to investigate. The administration would look carefully at the findings of any Cfius investigation and “act if appropriate”, she said.
The transaction is worth about $14.9 billion when including the assumption of debt. The combined company will be among the top three steel-producing companies in the world, according to 2022 figures from the World Steel Association.
