OREANDA-NEWS. July 06, 2012. ThyssenKrupp AG decided on an integrated strategic development program to move the Group forward competitively and sustainably. The program encompasses portfolio optimization, change management, and performance enhancement. In connection with the portfolio optimization, the Group will be divesting businesses for which there are stronger alternative strategic options, reported the press-centre of ThyssenKrupp. 

On May 14, 2012, ThyssenKrupp signed a stock purchase agreement with New York-based private equity company KPS Capital Partners LP (KPS) for the North American foundry ThyssenKrupp Waupaca. The transaction has now been closed.

Dr. Heinrich Hiesinger, Executive Board Chairman of ThyssenKrupp AG: “The implementation of the strategic development program adopted in May 2011 is proceeding fully according to plan. After just one year, we have already signed contracts or completed transactions for around 90 percent of the sales volume to be divested. The reorganization of ThyssenKrupp into a diversified industrial group is therefore making good progress.”

With three plants in Waupaca and one in Marinette, Wisconsin, and facilities in Tell City, Indiana, and Etowah, Tennessee, the company is the largest independent iron foundry in the world. It employs 3,500 people in all three states and had sales of nearly US\\$1.48 billion in the last fiscal year. The foundry group produces gray and ductile iron castings using state-of-the-art technology and serves the automotive, commercial truck, agriculture, construction and other industrial markets.

At ThyssenKrupp 170,000 employees in around 80 countries work with passion and expertise to develop solutions for sustainable progress. Their skills and commitment are the basis of our success. In fiscal year 2010/2011 ThyssenKrupp generated sales of EUR49 billion.

For us, innovations and technical progress are key factors in managing global growth and using finite resources in a sustainable way. With our engineering expertise in the areas of “Material”, “Mechanical” and “Plant”, we enable our customers to gain an edge in the global market and manufacture innovative products in a cost- and resource-efficient way.