According to a leading news agency, ThyssenKrupp AG has clinched the deal in principle to trade its stainless steel business unit, renamed as Inoxum in last September, to Outokumpu Oyj of Finland, the global leader in stainless steel with some 8 000 people in more than 30 countries, for EUR 2.7 billion.

It is said ThyssenKrupp AG announced that it would look for dispossessing its stainless steel unit last year and just happened last week, a ThyssenKrupp spokesman reported the company was negotiating with Outokumpu.

Nevertheless, the officials of ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA refused to comment on this speculation. The activities of the Inoxum group are divided into stainless steel production, processing and distribution of stainless steel flat products.