Cleveland-Cliffs CEO mulls much lower bid for US Steel if Nippon deal falls apart
(This March 14 story has been refiled to fix a spelling error in the CEO's last name throughout the story)
By Anirban Sen
NEW YORK (Reuters) — Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) CEO Lourenco Goncalves said on Thursday he would consider another bid for United States Steel (NYSE:X) likely worth no more than $30 per share if the latter's $14.1 billion deal with Japan's Nippon Steel falls apart.
In an interview with Reuters, Goncalves said Cleveland-Cliffs, which last year was among the bidders for U.S. Steel, continued to have the backing of steel union United Steelworkers (USW) and that U.S. Steel's deal with Nippon Steel should be blocked because «Japan is not a friend» of the United States.
«Japan in the steel trade is worse than China,» said Goncalves. «Japan continues to be a serial dumper of steel in the United States. I'm going to work to ensure the continuation of the same tariffs on Japanese steel trade because if we remove the tariffs, they will just hurt us.»
Goncalves' remarks came after U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday raised concerns over Nippon Steel's takeover of the iconic 122-year-old U.S. steelmaker.
Biden said it was important for the U.S. to maintain «strong American steel companies powered by American steel workers» and that it was vital for U.S. Steel «to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.”
Since Biden's remarks, U.S. Steel's shares have fallen more than 15%. The stock closed down more than 6% at $38.26 on Thursday, far below the $55 per share price it agreed with Nippon Steel.
The issue has the potential to overshadow an April 10 summit between Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida aimed at boosting the long-standing security alliance between their
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