Thyssenkrupp CEO Miguel Lopez is keeping a low profile regarding the planned steel joint venture with the Czech energy group EPH, owned by billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

The negotiations will continue, the manager said in his speech to the Annual General Meeting on February 2, which was published in advance on Monday. "The economic challenges in the steel industry are not making the talks any easier." He would not comment on the details.

(Report by Tom Käckenhoff. Edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)