Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker, said on Tuesday it would sell its stake in South Korea’s POSCO Holdings as part of an effort to improve ‘Asset efficiency’. The value of the divestiture is around $800 million and includes 2.9 million shares, representing approximately 3.4 percent of POSCO’s outstanding shares at current market prices.
The sale is part of a wide-ranging exit plan by Nippon Steel from its five-year-old basic-material partnership with Usinor-SA of France and Aceralia Corporacion Siderurgica, the Spanish producer, as the Japanese group gears up for a plan to purchase USX. Source: IHT Even after the sale, Nippon Steel and POSCO will continue their strategic alliance, collaborating in areas such as carbon neutrality and providing each other with certain steel products.
Nippon Steel says it will maintain its strategic alliance with POSCO, on issues such as carbon neutrality, and mutual supply of steel products.
Nippon Steel has been a shareholder in POSCO since 1998, and the two companies have previously worked together on R&D projects as well as joint efforts to tackle environmental issues in steel production.
This has proven that Nippon Steel remains cool-headed to optimize its asset portfolio and committed to continue dialogue with key strategic partners on important industry issues.