SAO PAULO, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Brazilian steelmaker CSN will not make an offer for U.S. Steel as it is too big of a target, its CEO Benjamin Steinbruch said on Wednesday, although his firm is still interested in expanding to the North American market.
In an event hosted by lender Santander Brasil in Sao Paulo, Steinbruch, who is also a controlling shareholder in CSN, told Reuters the firm is interested in expanding in the United States, but it is focusing on smaller acquisition targets.
"We're not interested in bidding for U.S. Steel. It's too big of an asset and we're committed to reducing our leverage," the executive said, denying market rumors about joining the race for U.S. Steel.
In 2018, the Brazilian company sold a steel mill in the U.S. to Steel Dynamics for $400 million and it still owns a mill in Germany, where it produces long steel.
CSN ended the second quarter with leverage, measured by net debt/EBITDA ratio at 2.78 times, compared to 1.31 a year earlier. The company has a target to reduce this leverage to between 1.75 to 1.95.
(Reporting by Alberto Alerigi Jr. Editing by Alistair Bell)
