Kyodo reported that Nippon Steel Corporation has concluded with major steelmaker Ternium SA a share purchase and new shareholders agreements on Brazilian affiliate Usiminas to keep its influence over, and defend against a takeover of the group firm.

Under the deal, Ternium will buy about 27.66% of the shares in steelmaker Usiminas while Nippon Steel will raise its stake in Usiminas by 1.69 percentage points and increase its group's stake to 29.45%.

The move is apparently intended to defend Usiminas from an acquisition by another Brazilian steelmaker, which has increased its stake in it to take it over.

Nippon Steel also aims to deepen its ties with Ternium, with which it is building a plant in Mexico for automobile steel sheets, and strengthen its business in Central and South America.

(Sourced from Kyodo)