Thyssenkrupp to Pare Back Funding for Steel Unit in 50:50 JV with Kretinsky

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  Thyssenkrupp will merely contribute funding to its steel division should the German conglomerate agree on a 50:50 joint venture for the unit with Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, it said on Wednesday.

The German group plans to close a sale of 20% in the division to Kretinsky by the end of September while talks over the sale of an additional 30% in Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (TKSE) continue.

 Thyssenkrupp said that it would continue to finance the steel division "for the time being" after the sale of the 20% stake in the steel to Kretinsky has been completed by the end of September.

However, in the case of a 50:50 joint venture this would be pared back to "supporting contributions from both partners" to what Thyssenkrupp said would be an independent financing structure.

The comments came in response to allegations by labour union IG Metall that Thyssenkrupp could ditch financial responsibility for TKSE as part of a partial sale that would entail the cancellation of a domination agreement.

Koefler is in charge of TKSE's strategy and implementation of the transformation towards climate neutral steel production and will be succeeded by Dennis Grimm, part of the management team of HKM, itself a joint venture of TKSE (50%), Salzgitter (30%) and Vallourec (20%).

Courtesy: www.reuters.com