(March 28): Nippon Steel Corp shares slumped on Friday on a report that the company is considering investing as much as US$7 billion (RM31.03 billion) to upgrade US Steel Corp facilities if it wins approval for its proposed US$14.1 billion takeover. 

The potential commitment, reported by the Semafor news website, is significantly higher than a US$2.7 billion pledge the Japanese company had previously made to rebuild ageing assets of the US steelmaker. 

Shares in US Steel gained more than 7% in after-hours trading in New York on Thursday. Nippon Steel slid as much as 3.98% in Friday trading in Tokyo. The move incorporates the impact of trading ex-dividend. 

The two companies are in active talks to salvage a transaction originally announced in late 2023, Semafor wrote, without identifying its sources. 

A Nippon Steel spokeswoman and a US Steel spokesman both declined to comment on the report. 

Nippon Steel executives including Vice President Takahiro Mori are currently in Washington to meet with White House officials, hoping to secure approval for the deal. US President Donald Trump said in February that he was opposed to a takeover, but would be in favour of the Japanese company taking a minority stake in the US giant. 

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