Nippon Steel, US seek 8-day pause in litigation to resolve deal concerns
Nippon Steel and the Trump administration on Thursday asked a US appeals court to extend a pause in their litigation for eight days, to give them more time to reach a deal allowing the Japanese firm to buy US Steel for $14.9 billion.
The court is likely to approve an extension of the pause, first granted on April 7 when US President Donald Trump ordered a second national security review of the tie-up. That pause was set to expire on June 5.
“A continued abeyance is warranted given … the ongoing efforts to reach a resolution that would fully resolve petitioners’ claims,” the companies and the government said in their filing.
The request for a short pause signals the companies and the government believe they are closing in on a deal, welcome news for investors who have anxiously followed the deal’s bumpy path since it was announced in December 2023.
Both former President Joe Biden and Trump asserted last year that US Steel should remain US-owned, as they sought to woo voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election in Pennsylvania, where the company is headquartered.
Biden blocked the deal in January on national security grounds, prompting lawsuits by the companies, which argued the national security review they received was biased. The Biden White House disputed the charge.
The steel companies saw a new opportunity in the Trump administration, which began on January 20 and sought a pause in the litigation to open a fresh 45-day national security review into the proposed merger in April.
But Trump’s public comments, ranging from welcoming a simple “investment” in US Steel by the Japanese firm to floating a minority stake for Nippon Steel, created confusion.
Trump on Friday lauded an “agreement” between Nippon Steel and US Steel at a political rally but stopped short of approving the companies’ diplomatically sensitive merger.
(By Alexandra Alper; Editing by Stephen Coates)
US Steel deal seen closing by merger deadline on Trump pivot
Nippon Steel Corp. and United States Steel Corp. are on pace to finalize their $14.1 billion combination with US President Donald Trump’s administration ahead of a deal deadline later this month, capping an 18-month saga to combine the steelmakers into the world’s second-largest producer.
Talks on the deal between the companies and the US government are ongoing and expected to reach a conclusion before a June 18 merger agreement deadline, according to people familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity given that talks are confidential. US Steel and Nippon Steel declined to comment. A Treasury Department spokesperson declined to comment.
The companies, their investors and advisers to the deal are still awaiting final terms marking the end of Nippon Steel’s takeover of the US steelmaker, but talks with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States are progressing and poised to be finalized before the deal deadline, said the people.
However, final details have not been fully ironed out and talks are ongoing, the people said. Failure to reach a deal could mean reopening the merger agreement at least partially and potentially spur new fronts of negotiation.
US Steel shares jumped as high as $54.24 after the Bloomberg report — the highest since Nippon Steel’s $55-a-share offer was announced in mid-December 2023 — before paring gains.
A final deal would clear the way for the Japan-based steelmaker to finally own the once-iconic American producer — albeit with some measures of American control, such as over board seats. Trump’s self-proclaimed “big deal” that extracted further concessions from Nippon Steel would also add decades of life to existing US Steel mills that have long beleaguered the company’s bottom line due to their urgent need for significant, and unavailable, capital investments.
The agreement includes a requirement that US Steel, as a subsidiary, will retain its headquarters in Pittsburgh. The deal also includes provisions for a US management team, a majority of US nationals on the board and US government approval of “key” board positions, Senator David McCormick, a Pennsylvania Republican, told FOX News Sunday earlier this week. It’s also poised to require an American chief executive officer, some of the people said.
Trump said Friday that US Steel workers would receive a $5,000 bonus and that $2.2 billion of a $14 billion proposed investment would be earmarked to increase steel production at the Mon Valley Works facility. Another $7 billion would be spent to modernize steel mills, expand ore mining and build facilities across Indiana, Minnesota, Alabama and Arkansas. And, he added, US Steel wouldn’t announce layoffs or outsourcing, and its blast furnaces must remain at “full capacity” for at least 10 years.
While some investors have worried about Cfius finalizing terms by a certain date, people familiar with the matter said the security panel’s decision wasn’t bound to a due date given its investigation wasn’t done through a typical process.
US Steel’s recent stock performance suggests investors are optimistic the deal will succeed. Shares of the American steelmaker have been trading above $53 a share since May 27 — close to Nippon Steel’s all-cash offer.
(By Joe Deaux and Josh Wingrove)
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