TOKYO: The world's two biggest steelmakers are planning to bid for a US steel plant operated by Germany's ThyssenKrupp, a Japanese media report said Wednesday.
ArcelorMittal and Japanese rival Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. are in final talks over a joint plan to buy the factory in the state of Alabama, the leading Nikkei business daily said.
ThyssenKrupp's factory is estimated to be worth 130 billion yen ($1.43 billion), the report said, without saying how much the pair would bid.
But ThyssenKrupp has said it would likely lose money on the sale of the state-of-the-art plant, which only came online in 2010.
Nippon Steel, which became the world's second-biggest steelmaker following its merger with Sumitomo last year, declined to comment on the report.
Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal and the Japanese giant already jointly produce steel for automobiles in the United States, with improving US vehicle demand sparking their interest in boosting production, the Nikkei said.
