Thyssenkrupp board will not support Tata merger at any price, say unions
Competitive concerns see both companies asked to offer compromises to avert possible veto
Dusselfdorf — Labour leaders, who hold half the seats on Thyssenkrupp’s supervisory board, will not support a planned joint venture with Tata Steel if concessions in ongoing antitrust proceedings go too far, a union representative said. Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel are planning to combine their European steel activities to create the continent’s No 2 steelmaker after ArcelorMittal, raising concerns that far-reaching remedies are required to secure antitrust approval. The European Commission is expected to outline its competitive concerns about the merger this week, calling on the two firms to offer compromises to avert a potential veto. “We won’t support a merger at any price,” Markus Grolms, vice-chair of Thyssenkrupp’s supervisory board and secretary at IG Metall, Germany’s biggest labour union, said on Wednesday. “We have always defined a red line with regard to the merger control proceedings. If this line is crossed we won’t give our support,” Grolms said, without saying where th...
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