Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa has terminated negotiations to sell a stake in a black economic-empowerment (BEE) transaction, the company said on Thursday.

Spokesperson Sven Lunsche said it had ended the talks due to the current economic climate, which made merger and acquisition transactions “difficult”.

However, he affirmed that ArcelorMittal South Africa remained committed to BEE.

“The strategy would resume once some resemblance of normality returned to financial markets,” he said in an interview.

In September, the steel producer announced that had started negotiations to do a BEE transaction. The deal involved discussions with the company at group level.

ArcelorMittal South Africa is the country’s biggest steel producer, and has operations in Vanderbijlpark, Newcastle, Saldanha, and Vereeniging.

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