On Saturday, a company spokesman of ThyssenKrupp said the German company is not divesting its Steel Europe business. ThyssenKrupp's statement through its spokesman directly refuted speculation about the company selling off its European steel unit to aid the company's restructuring efforts.
"We've always said that we want to keep the steel business," the spokesman stated.
Based in Duisburg and Essen, Germany, ThyssenKrupp had grown into a 670-company multinational conglomerate corporation. Aside from being one of the largest steel producers in the world, ThyssenKrupp had supplied components and systems for automotive industry, elevators, escalators, material trading and industrial services.
German magazine Focus said in an earlier report that ThyssenKrupp Chief Executive Heinrich Hiesinger at an internal leadership meeting commented on beliefs regarding the sale of its European business. Citing no sources, Focus said Hiesinger said people should not believe that the sale of its European unit could support ThyssenKrupp. The report also said Hiesinger reasoned that the sale of its steel business in Europe could not fetch a reasonable price for the company in the economic environment these days.
ThyssenKrupp said in February that it wanted to reduce EUR500 million or USD684.2 million in spending over the next three years in its operations in Steel Europe. Reuters noted that the decision could lead to a 14% reduction of the division's workforce.
In August, Hiesinger had already rejected claims regarding the sale of Steel Europe. Nonetheless, Reuters said in its report that talks about the divestment of ThyssenKrupp's steel business in Europe rose due to the weakening finances of the German company.
ThyssenKrupp has suffered losses for three successive years, incurring debts along the way. It is believed that the German company is intending to move away from the business of steel as prices had slumped due to weak demand and overcapacity of such resources. Reuters said ThyssenKrupp is to move into production of more profitable products like elevators and factory components.
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