Nippon Steel's $14.9bn acquisition of US Steel (X.US) gets backing from arbitration panel

U.S. Steel (X.US) said on Wednesday that an arbitration panel had ruled in favor of Nippon Steel's $14.9 billion acquisition of the company, but the United Steelworkers union disagreed with the decision. The panel, chosen by both the company and the union, ruled that U.S. Steel had met all conditions of the succession clause in its basic labor agreement (BLA) with the USW. But the union said the decision did not change its opposition to the agreement. "Nippon Steel remains focused on building a productive relationship with the USW, including fulfilling our commitments that go well beyond what is currently required under the existing BLA," the company said in a statement. The agreement, signed in December, has faced political opposition. Both Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump have supported keeping U.S. Steel in American hands. Nippon Steel paid a high premium for U.S. Steel, betting it would benefit from President Joe Biden's infrastructure spending bill. Earlier this month, U.S. Steel warned that failure to reach an agreement would put thousands of union jobs in the U.S. at risk, and suggested it would close some steel mills and move its headquarters out of politically important Pennsylvania. Nippon Steel president Tadashi Imai said in an interview Thursday that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States had extended its review of the deal until the end of December or Nov. 5, after the U.S. presidential election. Imai said the extension was not a reason to be overly optimistic, and the company continued to seek dialogue with the USW, as it still planned to complete the deal by the end of December.