The European Commission has announced that it has approved the acquisition of United States Steel (US Steel) by Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel Corporation.
According to its statement, after concluding that the transaction would not raise competition concerns given the companies’ limited market positions in the EU as a result of the proposed transaction, the EC decided to approve the deal, declaring it compatible with the internal competition regulations.
As SteelOrbis reported previously, Nippon Steel Corporation had decided to acquire US Steel, through its subsidiary Nippon Steel North America for $14.1 billion in cash. However, United Steel Workers (USW) had opposed the deal, stating that it did not believe that Nippon Steel understood the full breadth of the obligations of all labor agreements as neither US Steel nor Nippon Steel reached out to communicate regarding it. Also, US President Joe Biden had also backed the USW, stressing that US Steel should remain domestically owned and operated.