The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) is inching closer to making a decision on a transaction with loss-making ArcelorMittal South Africa (Amsa) after professional services firm KPMG completed a tax and due diligence study on the country’s primary steel producer.The IDC confirmed to Business Day that KPMG had concluded its work as mandated, and the national development finance institution’s board is still mapping a way forward.The IDC had to recontract KPMG earlier this year as a single-source supplier after it had completed its initial due diligence exercise but was asked to undertake a further assessment of the embattled company.“The IDC initially selected KPMG for financial and tax due diligence on Amsa through a competitive RFP [request for proposals] process in May 2025. KPMG completed the initial report by November 2025. In February 2026, after developments at Amsa, the IDC requested updates to the report,” said Tshepo Ramodibe, the IDC’s head of corporate affairs.“Given KPMG’s prior involvement and detailed understanding of the transaction, the firm was appointed as the sole service provider in accordance with the IDC’s procurement policy, which permits single-source appointments when there is a valid and justifiable reason to limit the process to one bidder. (Dorothy Kgosi) “In addition to continuity, a key consideration was cost and delays if a new supplier were to be appointed. This adopted approach also conforms to National Treasury guidelines on limited bidding processes.”With KPMG having concluded the second leg of the due diligence exercise and presented the IDC with the report, the ball is now in the IDC’s court to arrive at a decision, having already invested billions of rand in Amsa.The IDC last year provided Amsa with R2bn in the form of a facility, which, among other considerations, requires the parties to agree to its repayment. This was not enough to starve off the closure of Amsa’s long steel business.The importance of the imminent decision by the IDC was stressed by Amsa chair Bonang Mohale and CEO Kobus Verster in their annual letters to shareholders, published last month.“[W]e continue to be engaged in detailed and now advanced discussions with the IDC regarding a potential transaction. It is our hope that these discussions will soon bear fruit, to the benefit of our company and all affected stakeholders,” Mohale wrote in the group’s annual report.That view was reinforced by Verster.“I fully appreciate that there is a great deal of interest in our discussions with the IDC. You will appreciate that, given the sensitivity around such negotiations, I am not at liberty to disclose more detail than what has already been communicated through the appropriate channels to the market,” he said.“I can, however, assure stakeholders that these talks are progressing well and to expectations and that the outcomes will be vital in shaping our outlook and prospects.”The group is also looking to secure tariff relief from Eskom after paying R3.5bn for electricity in the 2025 financial year — which amounts to almost the group’s total wage bill.The company reported a loss of R3.4bn in the year ended December, from a loss of R5.1bn from the prior year.