On the evening of Thursday, September 11, Italian steelmaker Lucchini informed SteelOrbis that it has received a new binding offer from Indian steel producer JSW Steel for its core assets in Piombino, Tuscany and is currently considering the offer. The original offer of JSW Steel, made on July 14, had been described as "disappointing" by the special commissioner of Lucchini, Piero Nardi, and the Monitoring Committee of the Italian Ministry of Development.
Lucchini did not say whether the new offer by JSW Steel included all its assets or just some of them. The Piombino plant on the Tuscan coast includes a blast furnace, a steel mill, a coke plant, three re-rolling mills and port facilities. The content of the offer will be revealed to the Italian economic development minister once Lucchini special commissioner Nardi, all attorneys, and the company management and technicians have examined the offer.
The company also announced it has signed a preliminary contract for the sale of its Trieste-based iron and coke producing unit Ferriera di Servola to Italian steel producer Arvedi.
Furthermore, for its Lecco-based plant Lucchini has extended a deadline to steel producers Duferco and Feralpi to present an improved binding offer until October 15. An initial offer made jointly by Duferco and Feralpi about a month ago was judged unsatisfactory.