BUSINESS
POLITICS
The operation of the technically obsolete Ilva steelworks is running in the background. The Tamburi workers‘ quarter, in the foreground, is one of the most polluted quarters of Taranto.
A healing plan for the Italian patient The struggle to save the Italian works known as Ilva eventually has come to a promising result. ArcelorMittal, which has been the owner of Europe‘s largest steelmaking site, and some months ago threatened to waive its ownership, in the first week of March struck a new agreement with the Italian government. AUTHOR: Niklas Reiprich
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ArcelorMittal‘s employees point towards the ongoing work of the group on a roofing of the Ilva coal and iron ore dumps. The group has invested 300 million euros in this measure.
trial plan for Ilva, which involves investment in lower-carbon steelmaking technologies. The core is the construction of a DRI facility to be funded and operated by third-party investors and an EAF to be constructed by AM InvestCo. Also, the European Green Deal, which the European Commission pre-
sented at the end of last year, offers the Italian state the opportunity to demand up to EUR 4 billion for the ecological rehabilitation of the heavily polluting Ilva steelworks. This was confirmed by David Sassoli, the Italian president of the European Parliament. The support could further ac-
March 2020 / MPT International
Sources: MikeDotta/Shutterstock; ; ArcelorMittal
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n 4 March, ArcelorMittal announced that its Italian unit, AM InvestCo, and the Ilva commissioners signed an amendment to the original lease and purchase agreement for the steelworks. This now outlines the terms for significant investment by Italian state-sponsored entities into AM InvestCo, thereby forming the basis for an important new partnership between ArcelorMittal and the Italian government. The equity investment by the Italian government in Ilva, to be executed by 30 November 2020, will be at least equal to AM InvestCo‘s remaining liabilities against the original purchase price for Ilva, says ArcelorMittal in a press release. The Amendment Agreement between ArcelorMittal and the Italian government is structured around a new indus-
