Nippon Steel Corp., Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. and Kobe Steel Ltd. jointly announced a ¥260 billion ($2.3 billion) cross-purchase of shares and the building of strategic cooperative measures, such as the mutual use of core production facilities. When it comes to the largest steelmakers in the world, Nippon is second only to Luxembourg's ArcelorMittal. Bloomberg reported that Nippon's VP, Kiichiro Masuda, said, "[These] additional cross-holdings will eventually have the impact of increasing stability of shareholdings and act as a protection against takeovers.'' Last week, ArcellorMittal increased a minority holding in Hong Kong-based China Oriental Group Co. Ltd. to just over 73% for about $770 million.
More on the numbers:
- Nippon and Sumitomo Metals will each purchase the other's shares for around ¥100 billion
- Nippon and Kobe Steel will purchase the other's shares for about ¥15 billion
- Sumitomo Metals and Kobe Steel will also spend ¥15 billion on each other
The share purchase agreements are expected to be completed by March.
— Baz Hiralal
Go to the story here
Go to the share purchase statement
Join Corporate Dealmaker's LinkedIn forum
Juergen Lasowski
And the winners are...
