WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- United States Steel Corp. on Monday rebuffed activist investor Ancora Holdings' proposal for a board shakeup aimed at thwarting Nippon Steel Corp.'s plan to buy out the U.S. steelmaker.

The announcement came after The Wall Street Journal reported that Ancora, which has a reported 0.18 percent stake in U.S. Steel, intends to demand the Pittsburgh-based company remove its chief executive and abandon litigation for saving a takeover bid by the Japanese steelmaker blocked by former President Joe Biden.

"We remain confident that our partnership with Nippon Steel is the best deal for American steel, American jobs, American communities and American supply chains," U.S. Steel said in a statement. "Our stockholders will not be well served by turning over control of the company to Ancora."

Ancora has nominated nine candidates to U.S. Steel's 12-person board of directors, including former Stelco CEO Alan Kestenbaum, according to the WSJ.

Stelco is a Canadian steel company acquired by Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., which aims to purchase U.S. Steel despite being outbid by Nippon Steel.

Biden, who left the Whitehouse last week, issued an order to block the $14.1 billion takeover bid earlier this month on national security grounds, prompting Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel to file lawsuits seeking to protect the plan.

They also filed a separate civil suit against Cleveland-Cliffs, its chief executive, and the politically influential United Steelworkers union's leader, saying they colluded to block the deal.