Government commissioners running ILVA
on Friday extended from May 30 to June 23 the deadline for bids
to be presented to buy the troubled steelmaker.
The operation will, however, still have to be closed by
June 30, they said.
Investment bank Leonardo & Co has been charged with
assessing the ILVA group's value, according to a decree from the
industry ministry.
State-controlled investment bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti
(CDP) has been meeting with various companies interested in
joining it in rescuing ILVA.
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 have said they are ready to bid for ILVA
if CDP comes in with them. 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 recently outlining their
plans. They said they would make a binding offer by the initial
end-May deadline if the government bank comes into a three-way
consortium.
Luxottica founder and Chairman Leonardo Del Vecchio has
also said he might be willing to take part in an ILVA
consortium if there is a "solid industrial plan with concrete
possibilities of success".
The European Court of Human Rights this week opened
proceedings against the Italian State for allegedly
having failed to protect the life and health of 182 people in
the southern city of Taranto from the effects of emissions from
the ILVA steel plant.
The Strasbourg court deemed the evidence presented by the
plaintiffs to be sufficiently solid to open proceedings on the
basis of a preliminary examination.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
