Nippon Steel & Sumimoto Metal, one of the world's largest steel producers, acquired Ovako Group, a leading European producer of engineering steel. The company was sold by Triton Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed. “Ovako is a global technology leader regarding high-cleanliness steel for bearing steel and other advanced applications”, says Kosei Shindo, President of NSSMC. “Our goal with the acquisition of Ovako is to strengthen and expand our global business and further strengthen our technology, product quality, and product development capability for special steel, and securing a base of manufacture and sales in Europe, to strengthen our global special steel business”.