Cleveland-Cliffs CEO continues quest to acquire US Steel

Lourenço Gonçalves, chief executive officer of steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs, said he remains on the hunt for US Steel — even if open-season has not yet been declared.

In the meantime,Cleveland-Cliffs will be headed downstream to capitalize on its dominance of the grain-oriented electrical steel market.

Goncalves held a press conference on Monday January 13 at the company’s Butler Works in Butler, Pennsylvania, to stress the role that Cleveland-Cliffs should play on the national security front.

Safeguarding national security was ultimately the argument used by President Joe Biden to block the hotly contested $14.9-billion purchase of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel. Cleveland-Cliffs had been a rival bidder, ultimately being outbid by a single dollar per share.

Gonçalves stressed to the audience on Monday that the question of whether he would have another chance at US Steel was a “when” question, as opposed to “if.”

“I want to buy. I have a plan. I have an all-American solution in place,” he said. “I know we can make American steel great again.”

To take that shot, however, US Steel must formally abandon its merger agreement with Nippon Steel. The company has been granted an extension to appeal Biden’s decision, through June 18.

Goncalves declined to comment on the dollar-value of any offer Cleveland-Cliffs might make, and he likewise declined to discuss potential partners or asset-carve out agreements. He said that if Cleveland-Cliffs were to buy US Steel, he would personally move to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; keep the company’s headquarters in Pittsburgh; and christen the steelmaking portion of Cleveland-Cliffs’ business “United States Steel,” while the iron ore portion would retain the Cleveland-Cliffs brand.

It had been reported by mainstream news outlets earlier in the day that one potential path for the acquisition could be an all-cash deal for US Steel, immediately followed by the sale of its electric-arc furnace (EAF) jewel Big River Steel to competitor Nucor.

Weirton reimagined
Throughout the press conference, Gonçalves referenced the company’s former tinplate works in Weirton, West Virginia, which was shuttered in February.

In July, Cleveland-Cliffs committed to spending at least $150 million to reopen Weirton as a captive transformer production facility, using the company’s grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES).

The company inherited the GOES-making capabilities of AK Steel when it acquired the latter five years ago. Former AK competitor Allegheny Technologies Inc no longer produces GOES.

Cleveland-Cliffs is currently in the process of buying equipment for the Weirton project. Start-up is slated for early 2026.

“You can’t have a country that’s not able to make the steel that goes in a transformer,” Gonçalves said.

Published by: Dan Hilliard