Nippon Steel’s US setback a wake-up for Japan Inc’s foreign investments

As one of Washington’s closest allies, Japan has not had any issues with US regulators in recent years and companies in the country have been assessing assets abroad given a falling yen and stagnant economy at home.

 

But last week, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) said in a letter to Nippon Steel and US Steel that their proposed deal would create national security risks by hurting the steel supply needed for critical US projects.

 

CFIUS has stepped up its scrutiny since Chinese companies went on a US shopping spree about a decade ago, snapping up assets such as the Waldorf Hotel and tech firm Ingram Micro.

 

Some advisers said that the Nippon Steel deal was complicated by the US presidential election, with many Republican and Democratic lawmakers voicing opposition to it, but that this could subside after November’s vote.

 

“Whoever wins the election will be under pressure from the financial markets to accept these deals,” said Euan Rellie, New York-based co-founder and managing partner of investment advisory firm BDA Partners.

 

Nevertheless, Japanese companies would be “really, really concerned and shaken up” by the Nippon Steel situation, said a Tokyo-based senior mergers and acquisitions (M&A) banker, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

 

If the Nippon Steel deal collapses, break-up fees might increase and buyers will become more cautious, they added.

 

Outbound M&A from Japan to the US, in particular, is up nearly 160 per cent to $32.1 billion so far this year, accounting for 71.4 per cent of Japan’s total outbound M&A deal value, versus 38.7 per cent a year earlier, Dealogic data shows.

 

“The CFIUS decision in this case should not change the policy trend of friend-shoring or Japan’s status as a key ally country in the CFIUS review process,” said Weiheng Chen, a senior partner at law firm Wilson Sonsini.

 

Japan saw a 45 per cent jump in outbound acquisition deal value last year to $65.8 billion, the Dealogic data shows, as companies looked to tap alternate revenue streams to soften the impact of a deflationary domestic economy.

 

Nippon Steel’s proposed takeover of US Steel would have been the third-biggest acquisition of a US firm by Japan Inc in a decade after the $21-billion takeover of Speedway in 2020, and $16 billion of Beam in 2014, the data showed.

 

Rellie said that blocking cross-border M&A would be “bad economics and bad policy” as a “tidal wave” of Asian clients paying up for US and European assets had been forecast.

First Published: Sep 10 2024 | 9:27 AM IST