By Trevor Hunnicutt, Nandita Bose, Alexandra Alper
(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel would take the form of an investment instead of a purchase on Friday, even as two sources familiar with the matter said the Japanese steel company had not withdrawn its bid.
Nippon’s pursuit of U.S. Steel has stretched on for more than a year, with Trump vociferously condemning the proposal on numerous occasions, before Friday’s more tempered remarks at the Oval Office with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at his side.
U.S. Steel did not respond to a request for comment, while Nippon Steel declined to comment late Friday. It was unclear if the investment referred to a new deal structure and what the details of the transaction would be, but Trump said he would meet with the head of Nippon Steel next week and he would be involved “to mediate and arbitrate.”
Nippon Steel “is going to be doing something very exciting about U.S. Steel,” Trump said on Friday, sitting next to Ishiba. “They’ll be looking at an investment rather than a purchase.”
The U.S. president mistakenly referred to Nippon Steel as “Nissan,” the Japanese automaker, during his remarks, a White House official said.
The company’s shares ended down nearly 6% on Friday after a volatile session. The stock initially rallied on a CBS report that Trump would consider approval of the deal, only to sink after Trump said in earlier remarks Friday that he hadn’t changed his mind about his opposition.
Trump’s comments came one day after he met with U.S. Steel Chief Executive David Burritt at the White House.
The proposal became highly politicized ahead of November’s U.S. presidential election, with both Biden and Trump pledging to kill it. Nippon Steel put forth a series of concessions to try to sway public opinion in favor of the deal.
During separate remarks on Friday, Trump told reporters he hasn’t changed his mind on his opposition to the deal.
Last year, Trump said “I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan.”
United Steelworkers President David McCall said in a Friday statement that the union, which opposes the deal, has had no contact with either company or the administration regarding Nippon’s investment in U.S. Steel.
“Our concerns regarding Nippon’s continued interest in U.S. Steel remain unchanged,” he said in a statement.
A $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel was blocked last month, by former President Joe Biden.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Nandita Bose, Alexandra Alper, Addiitonal reporting by Kanishka Singh and Nathan Gomes; Editing by Anna Driver)
