The German group during a 19 May supervisory board meeting announced that it had bought back a 3.3 per cent stake from Iran Foreign Investment Company (IFIC), reducing the Iranian company's total share from 7.8 per cent to 4.5 per cent in ThyssenKrupp. The German group said it had paid about Eur 406 million ($475 million), or Eur 24.02 per share, which is almost three times the value of the present share price. IFIC bought into ThyssenKrupp in the mid-1970s.

'The purchase is in accordance with [the] stock corporation act (AktG), which aims at averting serious and imminent harm to the company,' a statement released by ThyssenKrupp said. 'As a result of the purchase, ThyssenKrupp subsidiaries in the US will avoid the threat of US legislation that could restrict the company's access to the US market. Consequently, the move will avert serious economic damage to the group's business in the US.'

ThyssenKrupp sells more than Eur 8,000 million ($9,369 million) worth of products to the US, equivalent to about 20 per cent of its total sales. It also employs about 27,000 people in the US. The group's three core business pillars are steel, capital goods and services.

'The Iranian stake has never been a secret,' says a source close to the company. 'But in the aftermath of 11 September, the company was informed by the Department of Defense that certain states should not hold a stake higher than 5 per cent and that the share should be reduced to below that level. Otherwise the company would be added to the American blacklist and endanger its important US business.'

ThyssenKrupp's decision coincided with the 19-21 May visit by German Economics Minister Wolfgang Clement to the US aimed at rebuilding strained US-German relations.