CDP assessing possible ILVA partners

(ANSA) - Rome, May 3 - 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.