Metinvest is rumoured to have reached an agreement with the Italian government and Indian steelmaker JSW for the takeover of JSW’s Italian long steel mill in Piombino.

Neither Metinvest, JSW nor the economic development ministry (MISE) confirmed or denied the news when contacted by Kallanish. However, sources close to the dossier believe an agreement in principle has been reached to transform the troubled steelworks into a hub capable of producing both flat and long products.

In the first week of November, Metinvest chief executive Yuriy Ryzhenkov met Italy’s Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMT) Adolfo Urso in Rome to discuss the takeover. The meeting was attended by local equipment maker Danieli’s chief executive, Gianpietro Benedetti, and the Mayor of Piombino, Francesco Ferrari.

The ministry said then that JSW and Metinvest would co-exist in the hub and the project had made a step forward in a positive and “collaborative climate” (see Kallanish passim). JSW would keep and revamp the rail mill that supplies Italy’s national railway operator, Ferrovie dello Stato, while Metinvest and Danieli would build an electric arc furnace low-emission steel coil plant.

The meeting “allowed us to delve deeper into the future prospects of the Piombino steelmaking area, towards a new production structure that will restart steel production with advanced technologies and a low environmental impact,” the ministry noted.