“I think it is important to look at it from the prism of a competitive business rather than sitting on any firm guarantees because at the end of the day the volatility of the market and the risks to performance have to be mitigated by building a structurally competitive business,” Koushik Chatterjee, executive director of Tata Steel Europe, told the newspaper.

Tata Steel last week announced that it was suspending the sale of its U.K. business, which includes the integrated Port Talbot works, and instead taking up discussions on folding its strip operations into a joint venture with Germany’s thyssenkrupp and other steelmakers. In the meantime, it said it would separately look to sell its specialty steels business and two pipe mills.

Tthyssenkrupp on Monday confirmed that it is indeed discussing a possible merger with Tata and other steel groups, The Wall Street Journal reported.  

“We have repeatedly emphasized that in this situation we believe a consolidation of the European steel industry is necessary,” a spokeswoman for thyssenkrupp said Monday.

However, the spokeswoman said it was still unclear “when and with whom” such a merger could transpire, The Journal reported.