*

Cliffs examining bid for U.S. Steel in high-$30s per

share-source

*

Would then sell Big River Steel mill to partner

Nucor ( NUE )-source

*

Follows Biden blocking Nippon Steel's ( NISTF ) $55 a share cash bid

for

U.S. Steel

*

Cliffs CEO said on Monday he wanted to bid again for U.S.

Steel

but did not give details

(Adds U.S. Steel statement in paragraphs 8-9 and final

paragraph, USW statement in paragraph 18)

By Anirban Sen, Alexandra Alper and David Shepardson

Jan 13 (Reuters) - Cleveland-Cliffs ( CLF ) is

partnering with peer Nucor ( NUE ) to prepare a potential

all-cash bid for U.S. Steel, with an offer in the high

$30s per share, a person familiar with the matter said on

Monday.

Cliffs is aiming to purchase all of U.S. Steel and then sell

its Big River Steel mill to Nucor ( NUE ) if the deal is completed, the

person added on condition of anonymity because the details have

not been made public.

Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves reiterated in a wide-ranging

press conference on Monday in Butler, Pennsylvania, that he

wanted to bid again for U.S. Steel after making a rejected offer

in 2023 and had a plan, but declined to elaborate on details.

"I'm happy that I'm in a position to make an offer that will

execute on the wishes of the board and the management,"

Goncalves said. "They sell, they go away. We take over. We do

good. America will be better, America will be stronger," he

added.

U.S. Steel shares closed at $36.34 on Monday. Nucor ( NUE ) did not

respond immediately to a request for comment.

Cliffs' potential bid, first reported by CNBC, appeared

aimed at ratcheting up pressure on Japan's Nippon Steel ( NISTF )

, whose imperiled $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel was

blocked by President Joe Biden in a Jan. 7 executive order that

cited unspecified national security concerns.

Nippon Steel ( NISTF ), which had offered $55 a share cash for U.S.

Steel, declined to comment.

U.S. Steel said in a statement it remained "committed to

completing" its merger with Nippon Steel ( NISTF ).

"Only Nippon Steel's ( NISTF ) partnership will deliver $55 per share

to our shareholders and guarantee the significant capital

investments and technology sharing needed to ensure a strong

U.S. Steel for generations to come and protect jobs," it added.

Enforcement of Biden's order, which gave the parties 30

days to unwind the transaction, was postponed until June after

the companies sued the U.S. president, alleging he violated the

constitution by depriving them of due process when he blocked

the deal.

Nippon Steel ( NISTF ) and U.S. Steel also sued Goncalves and Cliffs,

alleging "illegal and coordinated actions" aimed at scuttling

the deal in order to "monopolize the domestic steel markets."

Cliffs described the lawsuit as "baseless."

EARLIER CLIFFS OFFER

Steelmaker and iron ore miner Cliffs, which has been led by

Brazilian-born Goncalves for more than a decade, made an

unsolicited bid for U.S. Steel in August 2023 at $54 per share,

with half offered in company stock. It won the support of the

United Steelworkers union, arguing the companies combined would

"create a lower-cost, more innovative, and stronger domestic

supplier."

But U.S. Steel raised concerns that a tie-up with Cliffs

risked being shot down by antitrust regulators because it would

consolidate the supply of steel to U.S. automakers and put up to

95% of U.S. iron ore production under the control of one

company. U.S. Steel's board rejected the offer.

Nippon Steel's ( NISTF ) December 2023 all-cash offer was higher than

Cliffs' and the Japanese company later promised to revitalize

U.S. Steel's aging mills with investment from an allied nation.

But the offer became politicized, with both Biden and

Republican President-elect Donald Trump pledging to kill the

deal as they wooed voters in the swing state of Pennsylvania

where U.S. Steel is headquartered.

Trump and Biden both asserted the company should remain

American-owned after USW President David McCall expressed his

opposition to the tie-up.

Citing media reports that "other companies" were considering

a bid for U.S. Steel, USW said in a statement on Monday that it

would "subject the potential transaction to the same scrutiny as

any other bid, with our measuring stick, as always, being its

impact on our facilities and jobs, as well as the long-term

security of our industry."

GONCALVES TAKES AIM AT JAPAN

Goncalves also took aim at Japan in his press conference

Monday, describing it as "worse than China," as he sought to

disparage Nippon Steel's ( NISTF ) homeland.

"China is bad, China is evil, China is horrible, but Japan

is worse, Japan is a lot worse," he said, saying Japan taught

China how to "dump, how to have over-capacity, how to

overproduce" steel in the U.S. market, driving down prices.

The Japanese embassy and the Chinese embassy in Washington

did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. Steel said it was "incredibly disappointed in the

verbal attacks levied by Mr. Goncalves", including those against

Nippon Steel ( NISTF ) and the people of Japan, "a critical U.S. ally."