Published on Saturday, May 18, 2020
By Urvi Dugar, Akanksha Khushi and Yuka Obayashi
, TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) – Japan’s Nippon Steel announced on Saturday that its vice chairman Takahiro Muri, a key negotiating figure for the planned acquisition of U.S. Steel by the company, will visit the United States to meet with stakeholders next week as part of ongoing efforts to close the deal.
A spokesperson from Nippon Steel, Tokyo, said Mori would visit the United States in order to continue the dialogue with the various stakeholders to the deal and gain a better comprehension. She refused to provide any further information, such as the names of those Mori will meet and how long he’ll be in the U.S.
U.S. Steel referred all comments to its Japanese counterpart.
Nippon Steel made an offer in December to buy U.S. Steel for nearly $15 billion. This was met with resistance by both Democratic President Joe Biden, Republican former president Donald Trump and the United Steelworkers union (USW).
Nippon Steel pledged to move their U.S. headquarters from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where U.S. Steel resides. They also promised job security and extra investments should the deal go through.
Bloomberg reported in the U.S. on Friday that Mori would travel to Pittsburgh to meet with elected officials and local staff next week, citing sources briefed on this matter.
The Japanese steelmaker now expects the deal to be closed in the second quarter of 2024. This is a change from its previous deadline of the second or third quarter of 2024. The European Commission already approved the deal.
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In April, despite mounting opposition to the deal, a majority of U.S. Steel’s shareholders voted for it.
Source: Investing.com