Thyssenkrupp loses fight against EU veto of Tata Steel JV

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp on Friday lost its fight against a European Union antitrust veto five years ago of its proposed joint venture with Tata Steel, which was aimed at creating Europe's second-largest steelmaker.

The Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Europe's highest, sided with the European Commission and dismissed Thyssenkrupp's appeal entirely, the judges said.

The EU competition enforcer said the deal, which had aimed to tackle over-capacity and other challenges in the steel industry, could result in price hikes.

Thyssenkrupp said in a statement that it had taken note of the decision and would review the verdict's reasoning, adding it remained of the view that the Commission's decision had not taken into account the steel sector's ongoing challenges.

"In view of the difficult situation in the European steel industry, we do not consider as appropriate the standards applied by the European Commission to assess impairments of effective competition," the company said.

The group, which has undertaken several attempts at selling or merging its steel business since the failed deal with Tata Steel, said it remained focused on creating a 50:50 steel joint venture with Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Marine Strauss; Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz; Writing by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Mark Potter)