(Reuters) – Steelmakers Aperam and Acerinox confirmed on Friday that they are discussing the possibility of a merger, a deal that would create Europe’s number one stainless steel company.
“These discussions are at a preliminary stage and no agreement has been reached on the scope, structure or terms of any potential transaction,” Aperam said in a statement, adding that there can be no assurance that an agreement will be reached. .
Acerinox used the same terms to confirm “very preliminary” discussions, which Bloomberg first reported on Thursday.
Jefferies analysts estimate that a merger could create a group with a total capacity of 2.3 million tonnes, greater than that of the current number one in stainless steel in Europe, Finland’s Outokumpu.
Those of Sabadell note for their part that “the new entity would become one of the world’s main players in the stainless steel sector and a clear leader in the United States and Europe”.
The two banks point out, however, that a merger could come up against competition problems in Europe.
Aperam, resulting from a split from ArcelorMittal in 2011, has the Mittal family as its main shareholder with 38% of the capital, while that of Acerinox is held at 18% by the March family via a holding company.
On the stock market, the Aperam title gained 4.65% at 09:30 GMT, the best performance of the SBF 120 index, then up 0.09%. The quotation of Acerinox was suspended by decision of the Spanish regulator.
The Spanish group has a market capitalization of around 3.3 billion euros, against 3.1 billion for Aperam.
(Report Sarah Morland, French version Marc Angrand, edited by Kate Entringer)
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