TOKYO (AP) – Nippon Steel said Friday it will delay the completion of its planned $14.1 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by three months after the U.S. Department of Justice requested additional documentation related to the deal.
Tokyo-based Nippon Steel said the deal has already been approved by U.S. Steel shareholders and is expected to go through.
Nippon Steel released a statement saying, “We will continue to fully cooperate with the investigation by the relevant authorities.”
The sale faced opposition from President Joe Biden’s administration and former President Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee in November’s election, citing economic and national security concerns.
The new timing could extend the closure beyond the election period, but Nippon Steel denied the delay was related to that.
The deal was originally scheduled to be completed by September. The company is currently scheduled to close by December, and could close as early as September, said a company spokesperson who requested anonymity, which is customary for Japanese companies.
At a special investor meeting in April, more than 98% of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel’s shares approved the deal. Nippon Steel said it has sufficient funds in place to complete the transaction.
First announced in December last yearUS Steel’s merger with Nippon Steel has raised concerns about what it means for unionized workers, the supply chain and U.S. national security.
The United Steelworkers union opposes the takeover.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with Biden last month. However, there was no evidence that this topic was raised at the summit.
when Biden visits United Steelworkers’ Pittsburgh headquarters Recently, he reiterated his opposition to the Nippon Steel acquisition, stressing that U.S. Steel “has been an iconic American company for more than a century and must remain fully American.”
The U.S. steel industry has been in decline for decades as global steel production became dominated, first by Japan and more recently by China. Under the agreement, U.S. Steel will keep its name and its Pittsburgh headquarters, which was founded in 1901.
