US Steel bid rumors continue to swirl

Reports in the financial press in late November indicate multiple bidders are now involved in the pursuit of all or portions of Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corp.

For several months, the most public bidder for the company has been fellow blast furnace steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs. That firm’s initial overture was rebuffed by U.S. Steel executives but included the support of the United Steelworkers (USW).

Another potential bid by Pennsylvania-based steel service operator Esmark Inc. was announced and withdrawn this August.

In late August, the board of U.S. Steel announced it was undertaking a strategic alternatives process to consider an undisclosed number of statements of interest from outside companies. A few weeks later, it was reported that U.S. Steel and Cleveland-Cliffs had agreed on confidentiality terms that were acceptable to both companies.

Subsequent unconfirmed media reports have identified potential bidders that include Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal and Canada-based Stelco Holdings, which at one time was a subsidiary of U.S. Steel.

CNBC reports final bids being sent to U.S. Steel are due Friday. In addition to Cleveland-Cliffs and ArcelorMittal, CNBC indicates that the Argentina-based Techint business unit of Luxembourg-based Ternium “may also make a bid, though likely with a partner,” writes Seeking Alpha.

Another report concerning U.S. Steel, not yet confirmed on the company’s website, indicates the company is extending the idled condition of its blast furnace in Granite City, Illinois, “indefinitely.”

When announced this September, the blast furnace idling was labeled temporary, with the implication it was tied to uncertainly surrounding tense labor-management negotiations between the United Auto Workers (UAW) union and the “big three” automakers.

According to a late-November report from KSDK in St. Louis, however, U.S. Steel has notified some 1,000 Granite City employees they may lose their jobs.

The report indicates the affected workers were notified via a  Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice from a  U.S. Steel senior vice president.

The report says it remains uncertain what has or will become of a transaction announced in the summer of 2022 that would have sold portions of the Granite City production site and equipment to Illinois-based SunCoke Energy so it could produce granulated pig iron.

According to KSDK, the two companies “are still in discussion.”