UPDATE 1-ArcelorMittal wins bid to buy Italy's Ilva steel plant - source
16:07 (26/05) - Bron: RTRS
(Adds detail, background, next steps)
ROME, May 26 (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal MT.AS , the world's
biggest steelmaker, and Italian industrial group Marcegaglia
have won a bid to buy the troubled Ilva steel plant in southern
Italy, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.
The special commissioners in charge of Europe's biggest
steel plant by output capacity have accepted the bid of just
under 2 billion euros ($2.23 billion), the source said.
A representative for ArcelorMittal in Italy declined to
comment until after Italy's industry ministry ratifies the
decision. A spokesman for Marcegaglia declined to comment.
ArcelorMittal and the Italian family-owned company were
bidding against a rival group including India's JSW Steel
, the source said.
Italy has been trying to sell Ilva, based near the southern
port city of Taranto, since 2015, when the state took full
control in a bid to clean up the polluted site and save
thousands of jobs in an economically depressed area.
The commissioners must now pass their decision on to Italy's
industry ministry, which must issue a decree authorising it, the
source said.
Once the decision is official, the environment ministry will
examine the consortium's plans for cleaning up the site, which
was sequestered by magistrates in 2012 amid allegations that its
toxic emissions were causing abnormally high rates of cancer.
The environment ministry will issue its own decree around
autumn this year, at which point the deal will need to be signed
off by the European Union.