(Bloomberg) -- Thyssenkrupp AG lost a European Union court fight to overturn an antitrust veto of its plans for a European steel joint venture with Tata Steel Ltd.
The EU’s Court of Justice on Friday rejected all the arguments made by Thyssenkrupp, upholding the EU’s 2019 merger prohibition.
The European Commission in June 2019 formally blocked the deal after a series of proposed commitments by the companies failed to ease concerns that the combination of their European steel operations would have too much control over market supply and prices.
While merger vetoes are rare, their number has increased under EU Antitrust Chief Margrethe Vestager — who is set to leave the Brussels-based regulator after two mandates.
She warned at the time of her veto that the steel transaction “would have harmed European competitiveness in these sectors and led to higher prices for consumers buying canned food and cars.”
The case is: C-581/22 P, Thyssenkrupp v. Commission.
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