The sale of Italian steelmaking group Lucchini, currently owned by Russian tycoon Alexey Mordashov, is expected to take place by 2014, as reported by Italian news agency Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor. The funds earned through the sale of Lucchini's French subsidiary Ascometal are expected to guarantee the survival of the indebted group over the next three or four years.
Immediately before the Christmas holidays, SteelOrbis announced that the management of Lucchini had reached an agreement with creditors on the restructuring of the steelmaker's debts. Meanwhile, the industrial plan for Lucchini filed with the Court of Milan, which has the task of approving or rejecting it, also schedules significant investments at the Piombino steelmaking complex owned by Lucchini. In particular, in 2013 the rail mill will be upgraded with state-of-the-art technology, while in 2014 the blast furnace will be rebuilt and a new sintering machine will be launched.
Meanwhile, on January 9 Lucchini's steelmaking complex at Piombino restarted after the holidays with an eight-hour delay due to an unspecified technical breakdown which occurred during the night between January 6 and 7, according to local newspaper La Nazione.