Cleveland-Cliffs considering second bid for U.S. Steel

Cleveland-Cliffs is considering a second bid to buy U.S. Steel after the Biden administration blocked Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion attempt to acquire the steelmaker.

“We want to make U.S. Steel great as it was before,” Cleveland-Cliffs President, CEO and Chairman Lourenco Goncalves said at a news conference Monday at Cleveland-Cliffs’ mill in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Goncalves said Cleveland-Cliffs’ acquisition of U.S. Steel was inevitable and only a matter of time.

“Not if, when,” he said. “Don’t believe what you read in the Wall Street Journal. Not if, when.”

He said he had gotten the blessing of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro during a phone call Monday morning.

“I told him we have an all-American deal to save U.S. Steel,” Goncalves said.

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He said it made sense to continue to consolidate the steel industry.

“The more assets you have, the more you can pull together,” Goncalves said. “It’s called synergy.”

Goncalves said the new company would retain the U.S. Steel name and that the corporate headquarters would remain in Pittsburgh. He said he would move to Pittsburgh to run the company.

Cleveland-Cliffs originally offered $35 a share to buy its main integrated steelmaking rival in 2023. U.S. Steel rejected the offer, reached out to 50 potential buyers to get the highest possible bid, and was offered $55 a share by Nippon Steel.

Tokyo-based Nippon Steel is the world’s fourth largest steelmaker but is seeking to grow its business internationally because of a stagnant domestic market, and it has had operations in the United States since 1972, including the finishing lines in New Carlisle it jointly operated with Inland Steel.

The administration blocked that merger on national security concerns, fearing foreign ownership would further erode what remained of domestic steelmaking in the United States. 

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