Tata Steel today said its deal with German steel giant Thyssenkrupp to merge their steel operations in Europe in a 50:50 joint venture will help it grow faster and double capacity.

“Tata Steel India is in a strong position to grow faster and set to double its capacity through organic or inorganic route, post deal with Thyssenkrupp,” Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran said today.

Earlier in the day, the domestic steelmaker announced signing of an agreement with Thyssenkrupp to merge their steel operations in Europe in a 50:50 joint venture company.

The deal creates a strong and clean balancesheet, coupled with strong products and research and development capabilities to grow, Chandrasekaran told presspersons here.

He further said the two partners expect the deal to close by December this year or early next year.

Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two, the proposed JV — Thyssenkrupp Tata Steel — would be headquartered in Amsterdam region of the Netherlands and will supply premium and differentiated products to customers, with annual shipments of about 21 million tonnes of flat steel products.

The two companies expect annual synergies of 400-600 million euros.

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