KIEV, Sept. 25 – Metinvest, Ukraine’s largest steel and mining group, announced Tuesday it will be merging its assets with smaller Smart-group to create a $25 billion giant that would dominate the country’s steel sector.

Metinvest, which already produces 20% of Ukraine’s steel and 30% of its iron ore, said the merger will be completed by the end of the year and will help the company to eventually double steel output.