US-based Steel Dynamics has partnered with Kerry Stokes' SGH for the takeover offer, which would involve SGH acquiring all of BlueScope Steel and then on-selling its North American assets to the Indiana-based company.
"The carve-up structure itself is very telling: Australian assets to an Australian industrial owner, North American assets to a US steelmaker," said Hersh Oberoi, the Melbourne-based global research department director at Balfour Capital Group.
"That's effectively 'ownership aligned to jurisdiction', which is where the world is heading in a more fragmented trade environment."
The offer would give the steel sector a "strategic premium" halo and lift attention on peers as investors started asking whether other industrial names with hard assets and domestic relevance could become targets, Mr Oberoi said.
In the longer term, it reinforced a theme that policy-aligned industrial assets could command higher multiples than pure cyclical earnings would suggest, he said.
Steel is politically sensitive, Mr Oberoi added.
"Once ownership shifts, there's always scrutiny over where high-value decision-making sits, where investment is prioritised, and whether value-added functions migrate over time," he said.
"Even if jobs and operations are unchanged day one, governments and communities tend to focus on who ultimately controls strategic industrial capacity."
In their statement on Tuesday announcing the takeover offer, SGH and Steel Dynamic said they believed BlueScope's operations in the Asia Pacific and its North American business were not "strategically compatible".
Formerly known as Seven Group Holdings, SGH owns industrial assets such as building material company Boral and equipment rental provider Coates, while Steel Dynamics is a metal recycler and the fourth-largest steel producer in North America.
For Steel Dynamics, the prize is North Star, BlueScope's steel plant in Delta, Ohio, that produces about three million tonnes of steel a year - nearly four per cent of total US domestic production of hot-rolled coil steel, used in construction, automotive parts and other structural applications.
"We believe the acquisition of BlueScope's North American assets will be highly complementary to our existing operations and further expands our capabilities domestically," Steel Dynamics co-founder and chairman Mark Millett said in the joint announcement.
"The combination of BSL's North American teams and assets with SDI would be an excellent fit in every sense and create value for all stakeholders."
Judging from its response to the takeover offer, BlueScope's board seems sceptical, at least at its current price, analysts have told AAP.
BlueScope shares closed on Wednesday at $29.87, up 1.1 per cent from Tuesday and just under the consortium's $30-per-share offer price.
SGH shares finished up 0.8 per cent to $48.97.
