U.S. Steel completes purchase of National Steel
PITTSBURGH (AP) – U.S. Steel Corp. has completed the purchase of bankrupt National Steel Corp., the company said Tuesday, one day after thousands of union workers at both companies approved a five-year labor agreement. U.S. Steel had said it planned to close the $850 million deal in the second quarter, which ends June 30.
The acquisition includes National’s integrated facility in Ecorse and River Rouge, Mich.; its integrated facility in Granite City, Ill.; a finishing facility in Portage, Ind., near Gary; National Steel Pellet Company in Keewatin, Minn.; and a number of other subsidiaries and joint-venture interests.
U.S. Steel will also assume $200 million in debt from National Steel Corp.
Chairman and chief executive Thomas Usher called the sale a new era for U.S. Steel, the nation’s largest integrated steelmaker.
“This day is not about the closing of a transaction, rather it is about the opening of a new chapter in the history of the American steel industry,” Usher said.
The transaction is part of a much sought after consolidation of the domestic steel industry, which suffered with the arrival of low-cost, imported steel from abroad beginning in the 1970s.
More than 30 steel companies have filed for bankruptcy since 1998.
On Monday, Weirton Steel Corp. joined that list, filing for Chapter 11 protection.
In afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, U.S. Steel shares were down 8 cents at $15.04.