On Friday, two sources who were familiar with the deal told Reuters that ThyssenKrupp plans to sell its steel plant in the US. The German steelmaker is expecting to get around USD1.5 billion from its asset sale. ThyssenKrupp is also set to provide extra compensation to potential buyers should the plant's performance reaches above expectation, said the sources. The sources refused to be named as the details of the planned asset sale have yet to be made public.

The sources added that ThyssenKrupp has a potential buyer for the steel plant already in a consortium of Sumitomo Metal, ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel. The deal will most likely be announced after the trading close of the US stock exchange at 1800 GMT, the sources said.

"The purchase price is $1.5 billion, but there is a compensation mechanism in place that could have a negative impact for ThyssenKrupp over the next couple of years. In the best case, ThyssenKrupp will not have to grant any compensation," one of the sources disclosed to the news agency.

A spokesman for ThyssenKrupp refused to comment on the asset sale report. However, the spokesman pointed to the steel group's statement made on November 19 that the company was in exclusive negotiations regarding its potential divestment of its US steel plant located in Calvert, Alabama. When Reuters contacted ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel for their side regarding the asset sale, both companies were not available immediately for comment.

For more than a year and a half, ThyssenKrupp was said to be on the lookout for a buyer for its Steel Americas unit. Steel Americas consisted of the US steel finishing plant in Calvert and its steel slab mill CSA located in Brazil. The Steel Americas unit reportedly had been draining the company billions of dollars in the last few years of its operations.