German industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp said Tuesday it would slash up to 2,500 administrative jobs worldwide as part of a massive cost-saving drive.

Hoping to save 400 million euros ($456 million) in administrative costs, ThyssenKrupp plans to slash between 2,000 and 2,500 back office jobs by 2020, around half of them in Germany.

"Despite all our efforts to save money, we will not be able to implement (cost reduction measures) without reducing the number of posts," the engineering and steelmaking group said in a statement.

ThyssenKrupp nevertheless vowed to avoid immediate layoffs.

The news drove up the group's shares by 2.7 percent on the Frankfurt stock exchange, while the German blue-chip DAX index was almost flat. 

ThyssenKrupp, which employs more than 150,000 people worldwide, said it has already managed to cut costs by 800 million-1.0 billion euros annually under a massive programme embarked on in 2010/2011. 

But it has said that its annual administratiion of costs of 2.4 billion euros per year were "significantly too high" and some of its 18,000 administrative positions must go.

In addition to steel, Thyssenkrupp makes elevators, as well as submarines, car parts and ready-to-use industrial installations.