New tender to sell the former Ilva, new offers due by 15 September

The new tender for the former Ilva is there. The financial engineering of public accounts with which to carry out the most ambitious decarbonisation plan of the European steel industry not yet. But, in the meantime, the new tender, to try to select a private group to take over what remains of the former Ilva in whole or in pieces, is there. Yesterday, the Minister of Enterprise, Adolfo Urso, authorised the publication of the new 'Letter of Procedure II' for the sale of the company assets of the two joint-stock companies Ilva and Acciaierie d'Italia, both under extraordinary administration. 'The novelty,' the Ministry of Enterprise explained in a note, 'is that, compared to the previous announcement, from the first instance the purchase of the entire company complex, the North (Genoa, Novi Ligure and Racconigi), the South (Taranto) or individual company branches is allowed. However, the Ministry states, "all things being equal, preference will be given to those solutions that best guarantee continuity of production and employment protection".

The updated notice, explains Mimit, incorporates the most recent developments in the environmental and industrial spheres, starting with the new Integrated Environmental Authorisation (IEA) issued for the Taranto site on 25 July, valid for 12 years and with an authorised production capacity of up to 6 million tonnes per year. Moreover, 'in line with the national strategy for the ecological transition, the government ensures its support, also through the public company DRI d'Italia, for the construction of pre-reduction plants to feed the future electric furnaces'. Although, precisely, nothing is yet known about the public budget items with which to finance this.

Compared to the previous version of the notice published at the end of July 2024, the new text establishes that the decarbonisation of the Taranto site is no longer an option but becomes a binding obligation: interested parties will have to commit to switching off the hot coal-fired areas as soon as possible, and to building up to a maximum of three electric furnaces. "This obligation," explains Mimit, "is the result of the agreement reached on 31 July at Mimit by Minister Urso with national institutions, the Puglia Region and local authorities, which expressed a unanimous and decisive agreement in favour of full decarbonisation, according to the fastest and most technologically challenging project". The triumphalist tone of Mimit's note does not take into account the profound laceration experienced by the community of Taranto, whose municipal administration said no to the regasifier ship in the city's port, without which it would seem complicated to reach the six million tonnes of annual production with electric furnaces and pre-diesel quickly and efficiently. A further novelty in the tender concerns the plant in Genoa (Cornigliano): an electric furnace and pre-processing plants functional to the site's activity may be built. Compared to the previous tender, the new binding offer will also have to provide for the purchase of the entire warehouse and include a new version of the business plan. The latter will have to specify the number of employees the bidder intends to keep in the company perimeter, as well as the duration of the commitment in terms of employment and business continuity

The commissioners of AdI and Ilva, says Mimit, 'will evaluate the proposals according to criteria of industrial, environmental and social sustainability, reserving the right to activate any relaunch and negotiation phases'.

The draft of the new purchase and sale agreement will be available in the data room by 31 August. Binding offers must be submitted by 15 September 2025.