Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 6, 2026
2 min readLast updated: February 6, 2026
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Salzgitter plans to acquire HKM, resolving a dispute with Thyssenkrupp and impacting future steel operations.
FRANKFURT, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Salzgitter on Friday said it planned to buy out the co-owners of steel joint venture HKM to become the company's sole owner from mid-2026, potentially ending a spat with Thyssenkrupp over the future of the business.
A solution around HKM, owned by Salzgitter, Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (TKSE) and France's Vallourec in a 50-30-20 split, might end years of uncertainty over the struggling business that employs 3,000 staff.
It could also remove a hurdle in Thyssenkrupp's ongoing talks to sell its TKSE division to India's Jindal Steel International, with HKM's fate being one of the unsolved issues.
Under the plans, Salzgitter would buy the stakes of its co-owners for an undisclosed sum and continue HKM as sole owner from June, while also severing HKM's supply ties with TKSE in 2028, four years earlier than currently planned.
In a joint statement, Salzgitter and Thyssenkrupp said the agreement depended on a positive assessment of HKM's future commissioned by Salzgitter as well as Vallourec agreeing to sell its stake.
Vallourec was not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Editing by Miranda Murray and Linda Pasquini)
A joint venture is a business arrangement where two or more parties agree to pool their resources for a specific project or business activity while maintaining their separate identities.
An acquisition is a corporate action in which one company purchases most or all of another company's shares to gain control of that company.
Corporate strategy is the overall plan for a diversified company, outlining how it will create value through its various business units and allocate resources among them.
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