U.S. Steel Agrees To Settle Investment Canada Enforcement Action

On December 12, 2011, Canada's Minister of Industry, Christian Paradis, announced that the federal government has reached an out-of-court settlement in its case against U.S. Steel Corp. for its alleged failure to abide by various undertakings that were conditional to the government's approval of its acquisition of Stelco, a Hamilton-based steel manufacturer, under the Investment Canada Act.

In September, 2007, U.S. Steel sought to acquire Stelco, and submitted the required application for ministerial review and approval under the Act. The statute requires the Minister of Industry to review a foreign acquisition of control of a significant Canadian business and to approve the change in control only if persuaded that the transaction is likely to be of "net benefit" to Canada, based on prescribed - largely economic - criteria. On October 29, 2007 the Minister approved the transaction, subject to 31 binding undertakings which U.S. Steel agreed to abide by as part of its