Ilva should not be given away to foreigner investor: Arvedi
Giovanni Arvedi, president of Italian EAF-based flat supplier Arvedi, said in a speech to the Italian parliament that Ilva, the troubled integrated steelmaker, should be kept under the control of an Italian company.
The executive confirmed in his statement the interest expressed by his company previously in cooperating with the authorities to find a solution for the Ilva group. He noted also that selling Ilva to a foreign company would put the future of the company at risk of following the same path as Lucchini in Piombino and Acciai Speciali Terni.
In his analysis of the current global market, he said that Ilva should be put at the centre of an industrial steel plan for the Mediterranean, being superior in some aspects to the other mills located on the coast such as French ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer and Erdemir in Turkey.
As previously reported, a number of players confirmed their interest in acquiring the Ilva group, including ArcelorMittal in a partnership with Marcegaglia, and the Indian JSW. Arvedi noted that ArcelorMittal was mainly interested in the finishing lines of the Ilva group, while JSW only saw the acquisition as an opportunity, but withdrew its interest.
Ilva is now under reorganization after the Italian government approved a decree law aimed at putting the group under public control for a period of 36 months. The new organization is expected to be in place in March/April.
-- Emanuele Norsa