Thyssen to sell stainless steel unit in $3.5 billion deal

Thyssen-Krupp will go ahead with the sale of its stainless steel business to Finland's Outokumpu after clearing the 2.7-billion-euro ($3.5 billion) deal with its powerful trade unions. Germany's largest steelmaker said on Tuesday it will hold a 29.9 percent stake in the new combined company, moving towards a long-awaited consolidation of a sector that has struggled to combat overcapacity and cheap Chinese imports.
ThyssenKrupp and Outokumpu said last week they were in early stage talks over a stainless steel tie-up. The German company said it would receive an unspecified cash payment from Outokumpu, which will also assume the debt and pension liabilities of ThyssenKrupp's stainless steel unit Inoxum. ThyssenKrupp shares were up 1.3 percent at 21.39 euros by 0821 GMT, outperforming the German blue chip index, which was up 0.5 percent. Outokumpu shares were down 2.2 percent. ThyssenKrupp is being advised on the deal by Rothschild , Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, while Outokumpu's advisers are J.P. Morgan and Nordea.