The contract on the sale of Edelstahl Witten-Krefeld GmbH (EWK) to Swiss Steel AG, Emmenbrücke/Switzerland, part of the Düsseldorf-based Schmolz + Bickenbach group, was signed yesterday. The deal is expected to be closed at the beginning of May, with the acquisition effective retrospectively to October 1, 2004. The parties have agreed not to disclose details of the purchase price. ThyssenKrupp Steel AG has thus completed its portfolio streamlining program and is now focused on flat steel activities in the two business units Carbon Steel and Stainless Steel.

EWK is an internationally active manufacturer of long products made from special engineering steels, tool steels and stainless steels and has plants in Krefeld and Witten. It also has sales branches and processing centers in Germany and abroad. The company employs a total of 2,600 people. In the fiscal year ended September 30, 2004 it achieved sales of 643 million euros and earnings before taxes (EBT) of 13.8 million euros. EWK has instituted a major repositioning in recent years and achieved significant earnings improvements as a result.

Including the disposals made in fiscal 2003/2004, ThyssenKrupp Steel has now divested all its long product activities, representing sales of around 1.1 billion euros.

Since the merger of Thyssen and Krupp in 1999, ThyssenKrupp AG has to date divested companies with sales of 6.2 billion euros and acquired businesses with sales of 7.0 billion euros.