• Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel merger facing competition hurdles

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      Patrick Lavery

      Combustion Industry News Editor

The proposed merger of European steelmaking companies Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel may not go through, according to a report by Reuters. Anti-competition objections raised by the European Commission in February were accompanied by a request for a series of concessions to dampen the Commission’s concerns. However, though the two companies are working on a package of remedies, sources have told Reuters that they are unlikely to be as far reaching as the Commission desires. Instead, they are likely to argue that with ArcelorMittal already twice as big as Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel would be combined, competition concerns are overblown. The companies say they are in constructive talks with the EC, but there are a range of competing interests within the two companies that will need to be balanced in order to find a compromise palatable to the regulators, and until then the merger is uncertain.