Acciaierie d’Italia’s authorized representatives received the green light for sale negotiations

Azerbaijani consortium requests €5.5 billion in government incentives

Italy’s Ministry of Enterprise and Production (Mimit) has given the Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI) emergency commissioners the green light to start exclusive negotiations with an Azerbaijani consortium on the sale of the steel company. This was reported by Corriere di Taranto.

However, discussions on the sale of ADI are currently underway in Italy. The consortium formed by Baku Steel and Azerbaijan Investment Company presented an industrial strategy along with other conditions. Thus, Baku Steel offered €1.1 billion for Acciaierie d’Italia and promised €4 billion in investments for the industrial and environmental plan.

The consortium plans to build a plant with one blast furnace and two electric arc furnaces. The number of the latter will eventually grow to three (with the blast furnace to be shut down in the medium term).

The consortium is asking the Italian government (through the Invitalia agency) to retain a 10% stake. The Azerbaijani side is also requesting €5.5 billion in tax breaks, energy incentives, and loans guaranteed by Sace, an insurance and financial group controlled by the country’s Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Another concern is that the guaranteed number of jobs will be reduced to 7.8 thousand, but only for the first two years.

In addition, the Taranto plant must undergo a review of its integrated environmental permit. This issue is currently being discussed at a technical roundtable at the company’s request.

In March of this year, it was announced that Italy would start exclusive negotiations with an Azerbaijani consortium on the sale of Acciaierie d’Italia. The latter’s offer was recognized as the best by the steelmaker’s commission. As noted, the decision was made after a thorough and in-depth analysis of the applications received for the restart. The process assessed the financial strength of the candidates, the industrial sustainability of the proposals, as well as employment and social benefits.