Frankfurt (Reuters) – The Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky agreed to sell his 20% participation in the steel unit of Thyssenkrupp and to abandon the joint venture project for this activity, the two parties said on Thursday in a joint statement, thus opening the way to a possible agreement with Jindal Steel.

The press release indicates that the EP group of Daniel Kretinsky “respects the preference of Thyssenkrupp Ag to focus on discussions with Jindal Steel International”

The EP group will be reimbursed for the purchase price it has paid in Thyssenkrupp for participation in TKSE, the common press release said.

The two parties have never disclosed the purchase price, but sources close to the file estimated it at around 140 million euros.

The action of Thyssenkrupp, which was earlier in the day come up a six -year record before briefly retreating following this announcement, bounces and takes 1.6% at 10:42 GMT.

The sale of participation puts an end to long discussions on what could have become a Germano-dry giant of steel and energy. The EP group of Kretinsky and Thyssenkrupp were intended to form a 50/50 joint venture for TKSE.

These discussions remained in a standstill since Daniel Kretinsky had bought a fifth from Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (TKSE) last year and that powerful unions had accused the Czech businessman of refusing to cooperate.

The abandonment of the joint venture project comes while an Indian division of Jindal Steel presented a non-bontraigning buyout offer for all of TKSE, a volatile activity of which the mother company of Thyssenkrupp has been trying to get rid of for years.

(Written by Christoph Steitz; with Markus Wacket; Coralie Lamarque; edited by Augustin Turpin)

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