South Africa's Competition Commission has announced that the world's largest steel producer ArcelorMittal has called off its merger with Switzerland-based Duferco Steel Processing (DSP).
ArcelorMittal had intended to purchase 50 percent of DSP from Switzerland's Duferco Group and the other 50 percent from the Industrial Development of South Africa (IDC)
The merger of ArcellorMittal and DSP would have integrated ArcelorMittal's production of hot rolled coil with downstream production assets that transform hot rolled coil into cold rolled coil and galvanized products.
The Competition Commission declared that the merger between the two companies would "substantially prevent or lessen competition" in South Africa.
All production of cold rolled coil and galvanized steel in South Africa is carried out by DSP and ArcelorMittal subsidiaries.