Following the abandonment of its European merger with India's Tata Steel, Thyssenkrupp will continue to seek partnerships for its steel businesses, Chief Executive Guido Kerhoff said in a comment posted on Sunday.
Kerhoff on Friday scrapped a restructuring plan in which the merger was key and decided instead to transform the submarine steel group into a holding company and IPO his lucrative elevator business.
The company's management has agreed on its new strategy of cutting nearly 6,000 jobs, or about 4% of Thyssenkrupp's total workforce, with unions. The plan will be submitted to the Supervisory Board for voting on May 21st.
Due to opposition from European Union regulators, Thyssenkrupp has scrapped a long-planned merger of its steel business with Tata Steel's European operations, which would create the region's second largest steel producer after ArcelorMittal.
Thyssenkrupp, which is forecasting negative financial results for its operations this year, is seeking financial incentives from a partial spin-off of the elevator business.
Activist investors are demanding Thyssenkrupp to monetize its elevator business, which analysts estimate could be worth a whopping € 14 billion ($ 15.7 billion), double the parent company's market capitalization.
