Thyssenkrupp Prepares Steel Division for Potential Listing After Partnership Efforts Stall
Key Facts
Thyssenkrupp is preparing its steel division as the next candidate for separation through a potential listing, shifting toward the capital markets after efforts to work with partners failed, CEO Miguel López said in remarks reported by Reuters. López said the company "is currently preparing the steel division as the next candidate for separation through a potential listing." He added: "Our efforts to work with partners have not succeeded, and we are facing that reality." The remarks indicate that a listing is a route under preparation, not an announcement that a separation will be carried out or a date set. The company has described the separation of Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe as a stated strategic goal, with the parent company potentially retaining a minority stake. The shift comes as Thyssenkrupp announced on the same day the listing of its tk accelis unit, providing a practical example of separating a business from the group.
The goal of separating the steel unit predated López's remarks; in September, Thyssenkrupp Steel confirmed that separating Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, with the possibility that the parent company would retain a minority stake, remained its stated strategic goal. In May, Thyssenkrupp and Jindal Steel International announced that they had suspended talks over Jindal's acquisition of a stake in the steel unit, while reaffirming the goal of creating an independent entity. The company said at the time that the conditions and assumptions underpinning a potential sale had changed, and that it had made progress in reorganizing the division. But López's remarks put the capital markets route in the foreground after efforts to work with partners stalled, without naming partners or saying that a specific agreement had collapsed. The company has not announced a date for a steel division listing or operational details of the separation route in the remarks cited here.
The separation also depends on a plan to rebuild profitability. In the medium term, Thyssenkrupp Steel is targeting adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of at least 1.2 billion euros, a margin of at least 11%, and positive free cash flow. Reuters estimated on September 28 that adjusted core earnings would be about 400 million euros in the fiscal year then ending, putting the medium-term target far above the earnings recorded that year. The company said self-help measures are expected to add more than 800 million euros to earnings, and that more than half of those measures had been contractually agreed and were being implemented. These targets link restructuring to improved operating performance, a key element in the company's effort to make the steel unit an independent entity. The remarks gave no specific timeframe for reaching those targets, describing them only as medium-term goals.
The restructuring includes reducing targeted annual production capacity to between 8.7 and 9 million metric tons, from about 11 million tons, Reuters reported. The company also said that about 4,000 of the roughly 11,000 planned job cuts in the division had been implemented by September 28. The figures show that the separation plan is being pursued alongside a reduction in the scale of operations and the workforce, as well as earnings improvements, rather than a change in ownership structure alone. Thyssenkrupp shares were up 2.1% at 14:27 GMT on September 28, according to Reuters' report on the steel division's investor day. That move relates to that date and does not represent a reaction to López's remarks or to the October 28 listing of tk accelis.
In a parallel move, trading in tk accelis began on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on October 28, with the parent company retaining a majority stake, according to its listing announcement. The unit generated sales of 11.4 billion euros in fiscal 2024/25 and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 229 million euros, with a margin of 2.0%. In the first nine months of fiscal 2025/26, it recorded sales of 9.1 billion euros and adjusted earnings of 256 million euros, lifting the margin to 2.8%. The listing provides a recent precedent for separating a business from the group through the market, while the steel division's route remains under preparation and a listing remains a possibility. The company has not set a later date for a step involving the steel unit; the stated goal remains separation, with the parent company potentially retaining a minority stake.