Thyssenkrupp to spin off materials trading division, its biggest by sales

By Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff

FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, June 16 (Reuters) - Thyssenkrupp plans to spin off its materials trading division, whose sales account for nearly a third of the group's total, the German conglomerate said on Tuesday.

The spin-off announcement was previously reported by Reuters and continues the company's efforts to turn itself into a holding firm. It has already divested the group's hydrogen and marine divisions via individual stock market listings in previous years.

Thyssenkrupp will let shareholders vote at an extraordinary shareholder meeting on August 7 on whether to spin off 49% of the division that it renamed tk accelis last week.

Analysts at Jefferies have estimated the segment has an enterprise value of €3.6 billion ($4.2 billion).

The division, which buys, sells and processes materials such as steel and alloys and manages their warehousing, accounts for around 15,500 employees, or around 17% of Thyssenkrupp's total, as well as €11.4 billion, or nearly a third, of the group's sales.

If approved, the separate listing of the business would take place before the end of the year, Thyssenkrupp said, adding it would keep the remaining 51% in a structure similar to warship builder TKMS.

Thyssenkrupp CEO Miguel Lopez said tk accelis had "made impressive progress in recent years", calling it a "fully integrated materials distributor and powerful supply chain service provider".

Labour union IG Metall, which traditionally has had a major influence at the German conglomerate, said worker rights had been secured as part of the reorganisation, following prior concerns.

"IG Metall has secured and strengthened key safeguards under difficult circumstances. Without our negotiations, key workers' rights would be significantly weaker," representative Ingo Kloetzer said in a statement.

($1 = 0.8616 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Tom Kaeckenhoff, Editing by Miranda Murray, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Barbara Lewis)