Japan's Nippon Steel has extended the scheduled timing of its US Steel acquisition completion until the end of the year, following a request by US authorities to submit more documentation, postponing an original plan of closing the deal by September at the latest.
Nippon Steel will take more time to complete its $15bn deal to buy US Steel, as the Japanese firm received from the US Department of Justice a "second request" on submitting further documents necessary for the approval procedure. The deal was initially scheduled to close during April-September but is postponed to sometime during July-December, the Japanese firm announced on 3 May.
Nippon Steel received the additional request in April, according to a company representative who spoke to Argus, without disclosing the specific date. The company anticipated the possibility of additional requirements, he added.
The acquisition procedure may not finish before the US presidential election in November. Both the Democratic and the Republican party candidates repeatedly and vocally have opposed the deal, with incumbent US President Joe Biden pledging that a fellow American steel producer will be "American owned, American operated by American union steel workers".
Nippon Steel is confident that its acquisition plan will eventually clear regulatory hurdles with "fair and objective judgement" from the US authorities, the representative added.
