Thyssenkrupp ends talks with UK’s Liberty on steel unit sale By Reuters

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp (DE:TKAG) said on Wednesday it had ended talks to sell its steel division to Britain’s Liberty Steel, citing differences over value and structure in a potential deal.

“We regret this step because we perceived Liberty Steel as a serious partner in the process,” Thyssenkrupp Chief Financial Officer Klaus Keysberg said in a statement.

“Now it is important for us to ensure the future viability of our steel business on our own. We are working flat out on this, as we have always underlined in the past few weeks and months.”

Liberty Steel last month submitted a firmed up non-binding bid for Thyssenkrupp’s steel division, the continent’s second-largest, which sources said included commitments to protect jobs and sites.

The bid assumed a negative equity value for Thyssenkrupp’s steel division of more than 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), the sources had said, while recent broker reports put that number somewhere between zero and minus 400 million euros.

Liberty Steel, which is led by commodities tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, said it was keeping the door open for talks.

“Liberty remains confident that it has put forward the only long-term sustainable plan for Thyssenkrupp’s steel business and we will continue to engage to seek to eliminate the valuation gap in due course,” a spokesman said.