Even as Nippon Steel (NPSCY) faced skepticism of its doomed $14.9B bid for U.S. Steel (X) from the Biden administration, it was also contending with headwinds from an unlikely source, namely the CEO of a rival bidder for the company who repeatedly cast doubt on the deal’s prospects to investors, Reuters’ Alexandra Alper reports. Lourenco Goncalves, CEO of steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF), which made a failed $7B bid for U.S. Steel in August 2023, participated in at least nine calls assuring investors that President Joe Biden would scuttle the Nippon Steel merger months before he did so on Friday, according to summaries of investor calls included in a Dec. 17 letter from lawyers for Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and confirmed to Reuters by two participants in the calls.
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