Thyssenkrupp to seek new steel partners

Thyssenkrupp will still seek partners for its steel operations after abandoning a European merger with India’s Tata Steel, Chief Executive Guido Kerkhoff said in comments published on Sunday. Kerkhoff ditched a restructuring plan on Friday, in which the merger was a key part, and resolved instead to transform the steel-to-submarines group into a holding company and list its profitable elevators business. He has since agreed on a way forward with labour unions for his new strategy, which foresees 6,000 job cuts, about 4% of the Thyssenkrupp workforce. The blueprint will go to a supervisory board vote on May 21. Thyssenkrupp abandoned its long-planned merger of its steel business with the European operations of Tata Steel, which would have created the region’s No.2 producer after ArcelorMittal, due to opposition from European Union regulators.