The deadline for the agreement regarding the Italian steelmaker Ilva will be postponed by ten days with respect to what was originally planned. According to local Italian media, the decisive date for the Italian state's participation in the Taranto-based plant will be December 11. According to the agreement of March 4 this year between the Italian government and ArcelorMittal, the multinational company can exit from the plant by the end of this year by paying €500 million, if a new investment contract is not signed by November 30. However, ArcelorMittal will commit to not withdraw from the current contract until December 11, it stated in a letter addressed to state-owned agency Invitalia and Ilva in extraordinary administration.
Based on the general points of the agreement, by the first months of 2021 the Italian state, through a capital increase, will assume a 50 percent share in the management of the Ilva facilities through an investment of €400 million. The board of directors of the new company that will control Ilva will consist of six members, three from Invitalia who will choose the company president, and three from ArcelorMittal who will choose the CEO. During a second phase, Invitalia's stake should rise to 60 percent. This will happen in June 2022, when the state's agency will inject another €800 million in the company.
Initially, production will be ramped up to 6 million mt per year, and later to 8 million mt. ArcelorMittal Italia's CEO Lucia Morselli said recently that Ilva's production will amount to about 3.3 million mt this year, which is the lowest level ever.