Tata and Thyssenkrupp combine to create second biggest steelmaker in Europe
Tata Steel and Thyssenkrupp will create Europe’s second-biggest steelmaker by merging their operations into a £13 billion revenue venture.
The new business will employs 48,000 workers, include the UK’s biggest steelworks at Port Talbot in Wales, where it is hoped most of the 4,000 jobs will be safe.
The merged group is expecting to make costs savings of between £350m to £440m a year.
Tata said its “ambition” was to not have any compulsory redundancies in the UK as part of the joint venture.
German-owned Thyssenkrupp’s supervisory board gave the go-ahead to the merger on Friday – the two companies have been in negotiations for more than a year.
The new company will be called Thyssenkrupp Tata Steel and be based in the Netherlands.