European steel merger derailed by antitrust regulators

Steelmaking giant Thyssenkrupp of Germany says it expects European antitrust regulators to block its plan to combine its European operations with India’s Tata Steel.

Thyssenkrupp said in a statement Friday that the companies had offered changes to address the European Commission’s concerns but that hadn’t been enough.

The Essen-based company said further concessions would weaken the venture so that it would no longer make business sense.

Shares in Thyssenkrupp soared almost 20% on the news. Tata Steel fell less than 1%.

Thyssenkrupp responded to the rebuff by announcing a restructuring to increase profits. That included a proposal from management to hold a share offering for its elevator business. The company also said it would abandon a plan to split itself into two companies that would hold shares in each other.