ArcelorMittal signed an agreement with the shareholders of Companhia Siderúrgica do Pecém (CSP) to acquire CSP for approximately $2.2 billion. CSP produces high-quality slab at its state-of-the-art steel facility in the state of Ceará in northeast Brazil, which was commissioned in 2016. It operates a blast furnace with an annual capacity of 3 million metric tons. The transaction is expected to close by late 2022.

The acquisition brings several strategic benefits to ArcelorMittal, including the potential to:

• Expand the company’s position in the high-growth Brazilian steel industry.
• Capitalize on the significant planned third-party investment to form a clean electricity and green hydrogen hub in Pecém.
• Add 3 million metric tons of high-quality and cost-competitive slab capacity, with the potential to supply slab intra-group or to sell into North and South America.
• Allow for further expansions by the company, such as the option to add primary steelmaking capacity (including direct reduced iron) and rolling and finishing capacity.

The state of Ceará has ambitions to develop a low-cost green hydrogen hub. The Pecém Green Hydrogen Hub, a partnership between the Pecém Complex and Linde is a large-scale green hydrogen project at the Port of Pecém, which is targeting to produce up to 5 GW of renewable energy and 900 kt/year of green hydrogen in a series of phases.