The European Commission has given conditional clearance to Usinor, the French steel maker, for a €3bn ($2.6bn) merger with its two smaller European partners after weeks of uncertainty as to whether the three sides could agree revised terms.

Six weeks of disagreements between Usinor of France, Arbed, the Luxembourg-listed company, and Aceralia Corporacion Siderurgica of Spain about the division of ownership in the merged entity were resolved late on Tuesday night. The boards are due to vote on the new merger agreement later on Wednesday. Now that the deal has obtained Commission approval, it is unlikely that any of the companies will pull out of the merger.