Marcegaglia: 'Interested in part of the former Ilva's assets'. Urso, 15 expressions of interest

"We have already said that we are interested in part of the assets. The procedures for the expression of interest are underway, I cannot say more'. This is how Emma Marcegaglia, president and CEO of the Marcegaglia holding, put it in Santena while talking to journalists about the former Ilva on the sidelines of the ceremony for the Cavour Prize awarded to her by the Foundation of the same name.

The Ukrainians of Metinvest, the Indians of Vulcan Steel and Steel Mont, the Canadians of Stelco - now American with the acquisition of Cleveland Cliff - and the Japanese of Nippon Steel. The sums will be drawn on Saturday 21 September, as the deadline for submitting expressions of interest for the former Ilva expires at 11.59pm on 20 September, but these appear to be the industrial groups that would aim to acquire Acciaierie d'Italia in extraordinary administration, the former Ilva, in its entirety. Then there are other candidates in the running, including the Italians of Marcegaglia and Sideralba, but these are more oriented towards individual assets of AdI and not the whole. In particular, Marcegaglia would think of the Novi Ligure and Racconigi sites, and perhaps also Genoa, probably to integrate them productively with the steel plant acquired in France, in Fos Sur Mer, before the summer. And Sideralba is also aiming at some of the 'pieces' of the former Ilva, including two realities such as Salerno and Racconigi, which operate in the field of tubiforms.

The invitation to tender allows Acciaierie to be sold even in blocks, the so-called 'spezzatino', but only if no offers considered valid and congruous by the extraordinary commissioners are received for the whole. In fact, the commissioners' priority is to sell the entire structure. Of the groups mentioned, all have visited the facilities in recent weeks. In particular, Metinvest, Vulcan Steel and Steel Mont and Stelco visited both the south and the north to get an overview, while Marcegaglia and Sideralba only visited the sites of closest interest. On the other hand, there was no visit from Nippon Steel, which expressed its interest in the former Ilva on the sidelines of the recent forum in Cernobbio. With the tender open - it was launched at the end of July -, other groups asked the commissioners for permission to visit the plants, but were told no on the grounds that the sale procedure had already been initiated. While waiting for the sale framework to begin to compose itself, this is the third privatisation for the former Ilva after the one in 1995 from Iri to Riva and the one in 2017 from Ilva in extraordinary administration to ArcelorMittal, both of which foundered.

Tonight the preliminary phase of the international tender for the former Ilva closed with 'expressions of interest from 15 international and national players, some of whom have submitted a bid for the entire production asset and others for some incomplete parts of the assets'. This was said by the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso speaking on the sidelines of an event in Catania.

Expressions of interest are only the first step. Important yes, but only a start. And it is not excluded that the names on the track may be joined later. In fact, the procedure envisages that groups may be formed, in which, however, there will have to be those who have submitted expressions of interest. At this stage, the call only provides for an initial approach. That is, the essential information of the interested party, 'an express expression of interest - non-binding - for the purchase of the company complex or one or more company branches, in the latter case precisely identifying the company branches in question' and 'a concise illustration of the strategic and economic motivations underlying the interest in the purchase and the guidelines of the industrial plan that would be put in place'. In addition, the expressions of interest must describe the "economic, production and employment aspects of the investment", including "the reference to the environmental plan that is intended to be pursued in order to achieve the decarbonisation of the plants, the express commitment to continue the business activities acquired for at least two years and to maintain the employment levels that will be identified, it being understood that any willingness to assume such commitments for a period longer than two years will constitute a preferential element of evaluation", and finally "the provision of activities and forms of compensation in favour of local communities".