The European Commission has prohibited the creation of a joint venture by Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp under the EU Merger Regulation.
The merger would have reduced competition and increased prices for different types of steel, while the parties did not offer adequate remedies to address these concerns, the EU Commission stated in the press release.
“Steel is a crucial input for many things we use in our everyday life […] Millions of people in Europe work in these sectors and companies depend on competitive steel prices to sell on a global level. Without remedies addressing our serious competition concerns, the merger between Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp would have resulted in higher prices. So we prohibited the merger to avoid serious harm to European industrial customers and consumers,“ Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said.
This decision follows an in-depth investigation by the Commission of the proposed joint venture, which would have combined the flat carbon steel and electrical steel activities of ThyssenKrupp and Tata Steel in the European Economic Area (EEA).
The decision preserves effective competition on European steel markets and the competitiveness of this industry, EU Commission added in the release.
Source: EU Commission