Nippon Steel Corp and Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd have announced that they will be seeking a way to combine themselves under a single legal framework that has been designed to enable their proposed merger by making merger screenings faster and more transparent.

The two steel makers are apparently considering plans to call on the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to apply the law to their merger, thus making it the first major merger to be completed under the framework.

The revised law, passed last month, on industrial revitalization is aimed at promoting large-scale consolidations and is slated to take effect in July,

The two companies are looking to get approval for the merger within the next six months, rather than over the course of one or two years, hence their desire to incorporate the framework.