Nippon Steel postpones deadline for closure of US Steel

Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel has postponed the closing date for the acquisition of US Steel to the first quarter of 2025, Reuters reports.

Earlier, the company expected to complete the deal in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

The Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) on December 23 left the final decision on this issue to President Joe Biden after failing to reach a consensus. Biden has 15 days from now to make a decision. If no action is taken, the merger will get an unexpected green light.

“Nippon Steel hopes that the president will use this time to conduct a fair and fact-based assessment of the acquisition. We remain confident that the acquisition will protect and strengthen US Steel,” Nippon Steel said.

The Japanese steelmaker also said that the process of reviewing the case by the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice is also underway, without specifying when it might be completed.

It was announced in December 2023 that Nippon Steel would acquire the American steel company United States Steel Corporation (US Steel) at a price of $55 per share, which is approximately $14.9 billion, including debt, in December 2023. Since then, the deal has faced opposition from the influential United Steelworkers (USW) labor union and U.S. politicians.

Both companies have worked to mitigate concerns about the merger. In particular, Nippon offered to move its US headquarters to Pittsburgh, where the US steelmaker is located, and promised to honor all agreements between US Steel and the USW.

In November, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba sent a letter to US President Joe Biden asking him to approve the deal between Nippon Steel and US Steel so as not to harm recent efforts to strengthen ties between the two countries.