A water tower at the U.S. Steel Corp. Edgar Thomson Works steel mill in Braddock, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 4, 2024.
Justin Merriman | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Activist investor Ancora has nominated nine candidates to U.S. Steel’s board of directors, as it looks to oust company CEO David Burritt and push the American steelmaker to back out of a $14.9 billion merger deal with Japan’s Nippon Steel.
The activist investor, which owns a 0.18% stake in the company, on Monday proposed to replace top boss Burritt with Alan Kestenbaum, former CEO of Canada’s Stelco which was acquired by Cleveland-Cliffs in a $2.8 billion deal last year.
Cliffs, in 2023, had proposed to acquire U.S. Steel, but the Pittsburgh steelmaker raised concerns about antitrust issues, while it accepted a higher offer from Nippon Steel soon after.
“We are…concerned about the motivations behind these nominations, given Ancora’s and Alan Kestenbaum’s recent dealings with failed bidder Cleveland-Cliffs,” U.S. Steel said in a statement on Monday.
Ancora has nominated nine candidates to U.S. Steel’s board, which has a total of 12 members.
Reuters reported earlier this month that Cleveland-Cliffs was partnering with peer Nucor for a new all-cash bid for U.S. Steel after former U.S. President Joe Biden blocked Nippon Steel’s bid on national security grounds.
However, Ancora said on Monday it was not interested in the sale of U.S. Steel to another party, including Cleveland-Cliffs, and instead wants to pursue $565 million in breakup fees from Nippon Steel.
