ThyssenKrupp, Ig Metall pressing for sale to Kretinsky

Ig Metall has called a general meeting for 30 April to express its frustration at what it fears could be painful cuts, saying that Thyssenkrupp must provide financial support for the division in any sale to ensure the company can be competitive on its own. The reference is to rumours related to the €2.6 billion in pension positions, another reason for slowing down the discussion, an obstacle that could lead to the need to inject cash into the division to eventually finalise the deal. 'We are not absolving the parent group of its responsibility,' Detlef Wetzel, workers' representative and vice chairman of the supervisory board of Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, said in this regard.

After the failure of the merger deal with Tata in 2019 and the divestment, in the following years, of other assets (including the Elevators division, sold Cinven and Advent for $18.7 million) Thyssenkrupp had resurrected its attempts to sell the steel division earlier this year, garnering interest among several parties, including Emirates Steel Arkan, Jsw, Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional, the Cvc fund and Daniel Kretinsky.

In the fiscal first quarter, meanwhile, the German group reported a net loss of EUR 314 million compared to a profit of EUR 75 million for the year, while the loss per share was EUR 0.50 compared to a profit of EUR 0.12. The final result was marred by write-downs of approximately EUR 200 million. At EUR 8 billion, the order volume dropped from EUR 9.2 billion in the previous year, and turnover dropped from EUR 9 billion to EUR 8.2 billion. As for the outlook, Thyssenkrupp now expects sales for the fiscal year 2023/2024 to be at the previous year's level. A slight increase had previously been assumed. Furthermore, mainly due to interest rate-induced impairments in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2023/2024, the company has lowered its estimates and now expects a result around break-even.