The European Commission said in a press release that it has opened an in-depth investigation under the EU Merger regulations into the proposed merging of ThyssenKrupp’s stainless steel division Inoxum into Finnish Outokumpu (OMX:OUT1V), aiming to make a stainless steel world leader. The commission said preliminary investigation indicated potential serious competition concerns in various markets for production and distribution of stainless steel flat products, where only three producers would remain in the EEC area.
There was no mention of other parts of the deal. In some cases the Commission can ask for changes regarding a particular portion of the deal, such as a later divestiture of a particular unit. A decision is expected by the end of September. Outokumpu’s market value has been under severe pressure following a completed rights issue to finance the acquisition. It is up in today’s trading action. It had been expecting the Commission will want to take a closer look at the major proposed deal.
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