Federacciai submits an expression of interest regarding the former Ilva plants

Federacciai, together with 14 member companies, has submitted an expression of interest regarding the former Ilva plants, currently managed by Acciaierie d’Italia under special administration. The expression of interest was submitted, as previously announced, for all the former Ilva plants, excluding the hot section of the Taranto site, which is subject to a shutdown order issued by the Milan Court of Appeal to take effect on 28 October, due to excessively high emissions and the presence of asbestos, although on 14 August the special commissioners of AdI and Ilva in As lodged an appeal with the Court of Cassation.

This was announced yesterday evening by the Federation of Italian Steel Companies, which specified that the statement was endorsed by ABS Acciaierie Bertoli Safau, Acciaieria Arvedi, Acciaierie Venete, Advanced Steel Solutions (Asonext Group), AFV Acciaierie Beltrame, Alfa Acciai, Compagnia Siderurgica Italiana, Duferco Travi e Profilati, Feralpi Siderurgica, Ferriera Valsabbia, Lucchini RS Holding, Marcegaglia Carbon Steel, O.R.I. Martin and Rubiera Special Steel.

This decision confirms what was agreed at the conclusion of the Federacciai Executive Committee meeting, which, exactly one week ago, had authorised President Antonio Gozzi to submit the preliminary document – namely, the expression of interest – to the relevant authorities. The expression of interest follows the meeting that Italian steelmakers – together with the leaders of Confindustria and Federmeccanica – held with the Minister for Enterprise, Adolfo Urso, and the meeting that Federacciai’s board itself held on the subject on 10 August. “We’re in the running. Now it’s a matter of verifying that the necessary conditions are in place. We’ll be doing this with the Italian government over the coming days,” said President Antonio Gozzi following the Federacciai board meeting. Before 15 August, in fact, the association’s board authorised Gozzi himself “to submit to the relevant authorities, in the name and on behalf of a group of companies that have already expressed an interest in participating in the initiative, and those that may join in the coming days, an expression of interest subject to verification of a series of enabling conditions necessary to allow the industrial intervention to go ahead”.

Lurking in the background is the danger of a ‘social time bomb’ (as Urso calls it) triggered by the closure of the hot zone at the Taranto plant, as ruled by the Milan Court of Appeal. The risk of an ‘explosion’ remains, particularly now that ancillary businesses have declared themselves ready to proceed with applications for collective redundancies. The so-called Italian consortium continues to focus its efforts on the facilities not affected by the shutdown, whilst the Jindal Group—which has recently updated its proposal—keeps its sights firmly fixed on the entire company site, including the hot area.

Submission of the expression of interest therefore grants steelmakers access to the 'data room', i.e. the collection of all relevant information (ranging from the inflow and outflow of goods, to the number of employees and those on short-time working, right through to how much steel is produced or processed, or how much can be produced and processed), and to any site visits, so that they can draw up a bid (not to be confused with the expression of interest) to compete with Jindal’s offer. The ball is then in the commissioners’ court; as soon as they receive the bid from the ‘consortium’, they will submit their assessments to the government.