⁍ Thyssenkrupp TKAG.DE is also open to considering offers for its automotive and remaining industrial assets.

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⁍ The German conglomerate is struggling to define what its core business is.

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⁍ It makes submarines, warships, steel and car parts.

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– Germany’s Thyssenkrupp is trying to get out of the steel business. The company, which makes everything from submarines to construction equipment, is trying to get out of the car business. It’s trying to get out of the plant business, too. Volkmar Dinstuhl, who is in charge of getting rid of non-core assets, tells Reuters that the company has opened the books to buyers of its plant-building units and has received expressions of interest for its stainless steel division. He says the company is also open to offers for its automotive and remaining industrial assets. “Our goal is to find a solution for all our businesses within the next two years,” Dinstuhl says, the first time the company has laid out a timeline for restructuring. Dinstuhl, an international chess master, is taking an opportunistic approach to reshaping the company’s portfolio after selling the company’s elevators unit for $20.2 billion earlier this year. That disposal gives Thyssenkrupp the financial strength to stem potential writedowns on other assets it has up for sale, allowing it to pursue a deeper restructuring than has previously been possible. Dinstuhl said that Multi-Tracks, which accounts for about 6 billion euros in sales and was responsible for 400 million euros of negative cash flow in the 2018/19 fiscal year, will seek to sell, shut down, or find partners for the 10 units it comprises. “We’re basically an internal private equity fund,” he says.