Bulletin: ArcelorMittal's Divestment Of Some Of Its U.S. Operations Is A Debt-Reduction Milestone

LONDON (S&P Global Ratings) Oct. 2, 2020--On Sept. 28, ArcelorMittal (BBB-/Negative) announced that it will sell part of its North American assets (ArcelorMittal USA) to Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. for a combined cash and stock consideration of about $1.4 billion, of which about $505 million is upfront cash. We view the transaction as a significant milestone in the company's ambition to reduce its overall debt level, supporting structurally lower adjusted debt through the cycle. Under our current revised expectations for 2021, we now see the company's adjusted funds from operations (FFO) to debt reaching 30%, compared with the 25% that we view as the minimum for the current rating. Our negative outlook on the ratings mainly reflects the general global economic situation,

...October 2, 2020 LONDON (S&P Global Ratings) Oct. 2, 2020--On Sept. 28, ArcelorMittal (###-/Negative) announced that it will sell part of its North American assets (ArcelorMittal USA) to Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. for a combined cash and stock consideration of about $1.4 billion, of which about $505 million is upfront cash. We view the transaction as a significant milestone in the company's ambition to reduce its overall debt level, supporting structurally lower adjusted debt through the cycle. Under our current revised expectations for 2021, we now see the company's adjusted funds from operations (FFO) to debt reaching 30%, compared with the 25% that we view as the minimum for the current rating. Our negative outlook on the ratings mainly reflects the general global economic situation, and our need to see concrete signs of recovery. We could see such signs as early as the first quarter of 2021. In the last few quarters, ArcelorMittal has taken various steps to reduce its debt including: a targeted...

Bulletin