Billionaire Stokes stalks BlueScope with new $15b offer

BlueScope’s board said it will consider a new offer for the group after its spurned suitors, Kerry Stokes SGH and US group Steel Dynamics, came back with a higher offer valuing the steelmaker at $15 billion.

BlueScope on Wednesday confirmed it had received another “unsolicited, non‑binding, indicative and conditional takeover proposal” which the suitors expressed as a “best and final” proposal which valued it at $32.35 per share.

“As part of its evaluation, the Board of BlueScope will consider the proposal relative to the fundamental value of the Company, along with the conditionality and executability of the proposal,” BlueScope said in a statement.

“The Board unanimously rejected the prior proposal from the consortium on the basis that it very significantly undervalued BlueScope, as set out in its disclosure to the ASX on 7 January 2026.”

The company rejected a $30 per share offer that became public in January and confirmed that it had received three previous offers from Steel Dynamics, which is pursuing BlueScope’s lucrative steel business in North America — which generates the majority of its earnings.

SGH would own BlueScope’s Australian business, including the Port Kembla steelworks.

“While SGH/Steel Dynamics sees the offer as ‘compelling value,’ in our view at the $34/share (pre dividend) price point it serves more as a tool to put pressure on the Bluescope board to engage and to allow SGH/Steel Dynamics to conduct due diligence, rather than a ‘knock-out’ offer,” RBC analyst Owen Birrell, said of the new offer.

“We have stated previously that our mid-cycle implied value is in the mid-$30/share range, and that an offer will need to be ‘at least’ at this level to be successful.”

This week, BlueScope reported an 81 per cent jump in December half earnings to $558 million after President Donald Trump’s hike in US steel tariffs led to “stronger US steel spreads” for its products manufactured in the US.

This offset a softer performance in Australia and Asia for its locally manufactured steel which competes against China’s overproduction.

“We always have to evaluate and consider any offers that may come our way, and we’re always open to any option that realise value for our shareholders,” BlueScope chief executive Tania Archibald told Bloomberg TV after the company’s half-year results.

As part of its defence against the suitors, BlueScope announced it will deliver $3 a share to investors this calendar year via a $1 per share special dividend, $1.30 per share on ongoing dividends and a $310 million market buyback worth around 70c per share.

Bluescope shares jumped on Wednesday to a high of $29.67.

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