Duesseldorf, Aug 9: German steel giants Thyssen AG and Fried Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp on Saturday declined to comment on a report that senior management had agreed a massive merger of the two groups.

Thyssen management board chairman, Dieter Vogel, met with his counterpart at Krupp, Gerhard Cromme, along with other board members from the two groups, to discuss a complete merger of the two groups, Der Spiegel said in a report issued in advance of publication.

Thyssen and Krupp are currently merging their flat steel businesses. This was agreed after Krupp announced a hostile takeover of its archrival Thyssen in March, which met with the resistance of Thyssen workers and German political leaders.

The two groups would not confirm that senior managers had agreed on the mega-merger, but said it was well-known that the joint venture involving the two groups' flat steel businesses also involved closer cooperation between the two groups.

Thyssen spokesman Reiner Hochscheid told Reuters: "Contact between the two groups about further cooperation has only just begun."He said that Vogel and Cromme and members of the supervisoryboard had taken part in the initial discussions.

"More concrete discussions will only really begin when themerger in the steel area is completed and what will happen then is totally open," Hochscheid said.

Krupp spokesman Juergen Laasen told Reuters: "The negotiations about the steel merger are going well, and as was said on March 24, after a successful conclusion to steel merger, the possibility of cooperation beyond the steel area will be examined."

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