More irony in Nippon Steel, ArcelorMittal Alabama pact

Nippon Steel's announcement last Friday that it had reached a definitive Equity Purchase Agreement with ArcelorMittal S.A. to sell all its shares in their flat rolled steel joint venture in Calvert, Alabama in the southern United States should its acquisition of US Steel proceed, shows how far the two firms' relationship has come.

AM/NS Calvert LLC hosts 5.3 million tonnes/year capacity of hot and cold-rolled coil, hot dipped galvanized sheets, annealed sheets and is planning a new facility for making non grain-oriented silicon sheets. The company is currently held 50% by ArcelorMittal (AM) and 50% by NS Kote, Nippon Steel America Inc's