U.S. Steel plans to fully acquire Big River Steel (BRS) within four years, and to focus on flat-rolled production at the Osceola, Arkansas-based mini-mill - along with its Gary Works and Mon Valley Works - according to the company's top executive.
"Today's investment is the first step in a two-step process to ultimately acquire all of Big River. We fully intend to acquire the remaining 50.1% interest in Big River within the next four years," U.S. Steel president and chief executive officer David Burritt said during a conference call on Tuesday October 1, after U.S. steel announced plans to buy a 49.9% stake in Big River Steel."When this is completed, we will have three market-leading differentiated and technologically advanced North American flat-rolled assets that will be able to compete with anyone, anywhere," Burritt said.While U.S. Steel's operations have historically been rooted in blast furnaces, this investment will give the company more exposure to the electric-arc furnace (EAF) production process, UBS analysts Andreas Bokkenheuser and Cleve...