Luxembourg-headquartered global stainless steel producer Aperam SA, which was spun off by ArcelorMittal and separately listed in 2011, has announced that together with Italy-based Ilta Inox S.p.A. (Arvedi) and Marcegaglia S.p.A. (Marcegaglia) they intend to create an Italian joint venture aimed at participating in the sale process for the stainless steel producer Acciai Speciali Terni S.p.A, currently being divested by Finland-based stainless steel producer Outokumpu.
Accordingly, Aperam will be the majority shareholder and operator of the joint venture while Arvedi and Marcegaglia will each have equal minority shareholdings. The companies' combined experience and resources will focus on improving the competitiveness and profitability of the Italian mill in the European market for flat stainless steel products.
Outokumpu welcomes the interest on Terni, while indicating that there are several interested parties and buyer candidates, and therefore no decisions have been made yet.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, Outokumpu has submitted a binding remedy to the EU Commission to divest the Inoxum stainless steel mill in Terni within the scope of the acquisition of Inoxum, the stainless steel unit of the German steel giant ThyssenKrupp.