Thyssenkrupp loop its agreement with Tata steel european

FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF (Reuters) – The supervisory board of Thyssenkrupp has given the green light Friday to the creation of a joint venture with the indian Tata Steel, owned equally by the two groups and involving their steelmaking activities in Europe.

The operation, the most important in the european sector of the steel since the acquisition of Arcelor by Mittal in 2006, will create a new set, called Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel, which will employ 48.000 people for a combined turnover of € 15 billion.

The joint venture, whose headquarters will be located in the netherlands, will be the largest steel producer, european behind ArcelorMittal (AS:MT), also the first steelmaker in the world.

With this operation, Thyssenkrupp intends to accelerate its refocusing on the technology and industrial goods, reducing its dependence on the sector more volatile of the steel.

“The joint venture with Tata is an important step in the transformation of Thyssenkrupp as an industrial group and service and will lead to a significant improvement of the financial data of Thyssenkrupp,” said the German group in a press release.

The joint venture agreement was originally scheduled to be signed in the beginning of the year, before being postponed to the end of the month of June, and a disagreement over a difference of valuation had threatened to challenge this new time period.

It comes as steelmakers europeans are faced with customs duties of 25% on their exports to the United States since the beginning of the month.

Since the announcement in late may by the us president Donald Trump of his intention to impose these duties, the actions of the steel europe, ArcelorMittal, Thyssenkrupp, Salzgitter and Voestalpine