European Commission stalls Tata-tk merger process

The European Commission has ‘stopped the clock’ on its in-depth probe into the proposed merger between Tata Steel Europe and ThyssenKrupp Steel.

“This procedure in merger investigations is activated if the parties fail to provide, in a timely fashion, an important piece of information that the Commission has requested from them,” it says, in a note explaining its decision sent to Kallanish upon request. Once the missing information is supplied by the parties, the clock is re-started and the deadline for the Commission’s decision is then adjusted accordingly.

The stalling of the procedure occurred on 30 November, according to further information provided by thyssenkrupp AG. The company notes that there were “… further inquiries” to the two companies. This leaves it somewhat unclear however if original questions were not answered properly, or if the process is being prolonged because of additional questions from the EC. Neither side revealed what kind of information it is that has been lacking.

thyssenkrupp expects “… that the required papers will be compiled and sent to Brussels within a matter of days, so that the procedure is restarted as quickly as possible.” The previous deadline for the process was set for 19 March 2019.