Nippon Steel's $14.1bn deal for US Steel sparks criticism

TOKYO - Japan's Nippon Steel agreed to buy US Steel Corp for $14.1-billion, sparking criticism about the firm's ownership in an industry crucial to US national security. 

A major US steelworkers' union and a top US politician came out against the Japanese conglomerate's all-cash agreement to acquire the US firm for $55 per share. 

The deal price marks a 40 percent premium on US Steel's closing price on Friday and represents an equity value of about $14.1-billion, the companies said in a statement. 

Nippon will also assume the US firm's debt, taking the total value of the agreement to $14.9-billion.

The US company's share price finished the trading day up more than 26 percent on Wall Street following the announcement.

While the markets responded positively to the deal, the United Steelworkers (USW) union -- which represents 1.2 million US steelworkers and retirees -- did not.  

In a statement, USW International President David McCall said the deal demonstrated "the same greedy, shortsighted attitude that has guided US Steel for far too long."

Neither US Steel nor Nippon "reached out to our union regarding the deal, which is in itself a violation of our partnership agreement that requires US Steel to notify us of a change in control or business conditions," he added.