Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Italian administrators overseeing Europe’s largest steelworks have sued its former owner ArcelorMittal, seeking €7bn in damages, as the plant struggles for survival.
According to a complaint filed with a Milan court this month and seen by the Financial Times, Acciaierie d’Italia is seeking compensation for what it alleges was ArcelorMittal’s “mismanagement” of the steelworks, formerly known as Ilva.
The plant at Taranto in southern Italy was placed under special administration by state-appointed commissioners after Giorgia Meloni’s government seized control of the site from ArcelorMittal — Europe’s largest steelmaker — almost two years ago.
“The forensic due diligence carried out by the commissioners has shown that the company’s financial imbalances are the result of a wilful and precise strategy, pursued over time, aimed at systematically and unilaterally transferring financial resources from the [Italian] company to its parent company,” the complaint, filed by lawyer Andrea Zoppini, said.
The document was formally notified to ArcelorMittal on Monday. The Luxembourg-based group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Acciaierie d’Italia and Zoppini declined to comment. The Milan tribunal could not be reached for comment.
The complaint is set to be one of the largest compensation claims ever heard in an Italian court.
In July, ArcelorMittal filed an international arbitration claim against Italy in Washington under the Energy Charter Treaty, arguing that the government’s seizure of the steelworks was unlawful.
Last month two US-based investment funds, Bedrock Industries and Flacks Group, submitted binding offers for the ailing company, which is located in the Puglia region.
The Italian government is desperate to try to save a business it deems to be a strategic asset critical for the country’s long-term industrial security.
Meloni said last week that “a negotiation phase has now begun, but there are and will be no binding commitments [from the government] until there are clear answers on a solid industrial plan, employment and environmental safety.”
The steelworks in 2012 faced a criminal prosecution over its environmental record, after allegedly causing thousands of cases of fatal illnesses in the area.
Successive governments have poured billions of euros in public funds into the company to keep it afloat and save the jobs of its 10,000 staff.
Italy and ArcelorMittal have been locked in a long-running dispute over the Luxembourg-based group’s original commitments to finance the plant’s environmental clean-up.
The Italian government now estimates that the company requires at least €5bn in investment to build new electric furnaces to transform the company into a model green steel producer.
