ArcelorMittal came to an agreement with the trade unions of the Ilva plant

ArcelorMittal has agreed with the unions of the largest steel mill in Europe, Ilva ("Ilva"), in the Italian city of Tarencie. Thus, bringing the acquisition process to the home stretch.

In May, ArcelorMittal received approval from the European Commission for the purchase of Ilva. However, this depended on the sale of the Ostrava plant and other assets in Italy, Romania, Macedonia, Luxembourg and Belgium.

However, social problems remained an unresolved problem. Finally, ArcelorMittal has committed to an acquisition to retain the company's employees, up 500 more than originally proposed. The company also pledged to spend a quarter of a billion euros on severance pay for laid-off people. Pollutant emissions should also be limited by the new owner.

Italian Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio announced that the agreement with the unions means the government will not block the acquisition. According to previous information, the deadline for the sale should fall on September 15th.

Recall that the consortium of ArcelorMittal and Marcegaglia has offered 1.8 billion euros to take over the Italian mill Ilva. He also promises to invest € 2.3 billion in steel structures.

The consortium, which was called AM Investco Italy, should reduce the number of employees from the current 13.5 thousand to 8.48 thousand people by 2024.

The Italian government is trying to keep the steel mill alive. For several years they have been looking for a new owner. The problem was the cost of the modernization that the plant had to go through in order for it to continue to function. However, the local authorities wanted to close the plant. This is due to its extremely intense emissions of pollutants and the rapid increase in cancer cases reported in its vicinity.