The European Commission has approved the acquisition by Marcegaglia of plate re-roller Palini & Bertoli from Russian steelmaker Evraz. The transaction is scheduled for closing on 2 December, a source close to Marcegaglia tells Kallanish.

The Commission says it concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns because the companies' combined share of the market for manufacturing of heavy quarto plate is limited.

Marcegaglia is set to acquire the entire corporate capital of Palini Bertoli through its unit Marcegaglia Plates. Evraz Palini e Bertoli is located in San Giorgio di Nogaro, in the Udine province of northern Italy. Palini e Bertoli sells its products in Europe and North America. Marcegaglia's plate production division is also located in the dedicated unit of San Giorgio di Nogaro. It has a production capacity of 400,000 tonnes/year.

Palini e Bertoli was idled for three years until mid-2016 due to the weakness of the heavy plate market. In 2018 the unit produced over 300,000t of finished product from a capacity of 500,000 t/y, Kallanish understands.