Bye bye made in Italy. Or rather, many greetings to productive Italy. Also Thyssenkrupp, the German leader in the steel industry, will leave the Bel Paese: has in fact just announced the sale of its steel division, recently renamed Inoxum, to the Finns Outokumpu who will thus become world leaders in the sector and will consequently acquire the steelworks of ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali Terni, one of the main European plants for flat products.
The transaction is worth approximately 2,7 billion euros and Thyssenkrupp will retain a minority stake in Inoxum as well as receive a "significant" cash payment by transferring the company's pension and financial liabilities to Outokumpu, according to a statement.
With the acquisition of Inoxum, Outokumpu becomes the new world number one in stainless steel with an annual turnover of over 10 billion euros and a 50% share of the European market.
In the deal, Thyssenkrupp and their Finnish counterpart agreed to keep all German manufacturing sites. No mention, however, for the Italian plants.
