15 groups interested in former ILVA steel plant - Urso

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 21 - The government has received "expressions of interest from 15 international and and national players" for the troubled former ILVA steel works in Taranto, Business and Made in Italy Minister Adolfo Urso said Saturday after the closure of the preliminary phase of an international tender for the facility.
    "Some have presented an expression of interest for the entire production asset and others for parts of the assets" Urso said on the sidelines of an event in Catania about the plant, which has been renamed Acciarierie d'Italia (AdI).
    The steelworks, which has some 11,000 employees, was put into special administration by the government at the start of the year and AdI declared insolvent after the multinational ArcelorMittal's term as the majority stakeholder ended acrimoniously.
    The plant has been the subject of legal battles over its impact on the environment and on local people's health for many years.
    In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights found that the steelworks had a significant negative impact on the environment and the health of local residents.
    Previous owners the Riva family were convicted of causing higher than normal cancer rates in Taranto, especially among children.
    In March former AdI CEO Lucia Morselli was put under investigation in Taranto for alleged environmental and health-and-safety felonies along with former plant director Alessandro Labile. (ANSA).