State-controlled investment bank
Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) is meeting with various
companies interested in joining it in rescuing Italy's troubled
steelmaker ILVA, sources close to the talks told ANSA on
Tuesday.
CDP is "evaluating potential future partners and their
turnaround and development projects" for ILVA. Any such deal
would see CDP as "a financial partner with a minority share" in
the steelmaker, with "the presence of at least one industrial
partner as a prerequisite", the sources said.
A court this year declared ILVA insolvent, with debt
totalling nearly three billion euros. The company has been put
up for sale after the court-ordered seizure of assets at its
highly polluting Taranto plant, which is being cleaned up.
Extraordinary commissioners are managing the firm as it
undergoes the massive environmental cleanup and a financial
turnaround project.
Anglo-Indian steel giant Arcelor Mittal and Italy's
Marcegaglia steel group said they are ready to bid for ILVA if
CDP comes in with them, sources told ANSA Monday. If CDP agrees
to join, the remainder of the consortium will be 85% Arcelor
Mittal and 15% Marcegaglia, they said.
The two groups had talks with CDP Monday outlining their
plans. They said they would make a binding offer by an end-May
deadline if the government bank comes into a three-way
consortium.
Also on Monday, sources said Luxottica founder and Chairman
Leonardo Del Vecchio might be willing to take part in an ILVA
consortium if there is a "solid industrial plan with concrete
possibilities of success". The Italian billionaire wants "to
help the nation and the Puglia region, with which he has ties of
affection", the sources said.
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