Thyssenkrupp supervisory board to discuss Tata Steel JV - source

By Tom Käckenhoff

DUESSELDORF (Reuters) - Thyssenkrupp's supervisory board will discuss a planned European steel joint venture with Tata Steel at an extraordinary meeting on April 12, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The joint venture, which was originally due to be signed early in 2018, has faced renewed criticism after German labour representatives threatened to withdraw approval over the planned legal structure of the entity's Dutch operations.

Last month Tata Steel guaranteed its Dutch division it could continue to operate as an independent company within the joint venture with ThyssenKrupp, with control over its own profits and with an independent supervisory board.

"It is not acceptable that only we in Germany are to be responsible for the risks of the joint venture and the Dutch entity is dodging responsibility," Thyssenkrupp supervisory board member Tekin Nasikkol told Reuters, adding local employees would not accept this.

Tata Steel declined to comment.

Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel last year announced plans to combine their European steel operations to create the continent's second-largest player after ArcelorMittal.

Steel workers at Germany's Thyssenkrupp last month voted in favour of a labour agreement that will safeguard jobs and plants in a planned joint venture with Tata Steel until 2026, removing a key hurdle for the tie-up.

(Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt, Bart Meijer in Amsterdam and Maytaal Angel; Editing by Sabine Wollrab, Maria Sheahan and Victoria Bryan)