German steel giants Thyssen and Krupp-Hoesch yesterday announced their intention of fully merging their companies, creating a group with turnover of around 63 billion deutschmarks a year and saving at least a billion a year. Their steel divisions were grouped on September in a joint venture and the emergent Krupp Thyssen Stahl AG is the European leader in flat steel with 15 million tonnes a year.

Krupp and Thyssen said the exchange ratios between the two groups would be determined in accordance with legal valuation rules. Thyssen is much bigger with turnover of DM39 billion against DM24 billion for Krupp-Hoesch.