Algerian capitals for the revival of Tuscan steel. The Cevital group – active in various sectors spanning from foodstuffs to the automotive and logistics – won the tender for the assets sale of Piombino’s Lucchini company, an important steel company that has been under extraordinary administration since 2012 (a competitive procedure provided for by Italian regulations in the case of insolvency towards creditors). The proposal made by the first Algerian group with private capitals, headed by Issad Rebrab, was higher than the one made by the Indian JSW and promises to revive the steelworks activity in the Tuscan plants as well as starting to diversify the site by taking advantage of the port’s development.
According to statements by the extraordinary commissioner currently managing the Lucchini activity, Cevital’s project was chosen not only because it better addresses the interests of creditors, but largely because the industrial plan forecasts, once it is running at full speed, to employ all of Piombino’s personnel by reviving steel production and through important elements of diversification in the agricultural and food and logistics sectors, and it therefore pertains to a broader perimeter – one of the criteria of the tender’s regulations.”
The plan’s goal is to return to a production of 2 million tons per year. To this end, an investment of 400 million is forecasted to build two electric furnaces, update three laminating machines, and to build a fourth one, so as to reintegrate Lucchini’s nearly 2,000 employees in approximately 2 years. Although steel working will remain the core business, Cevital’s vocation for multiple sectors will lead to the new productive installations at the Piombino plant. After a period of land recovery, the new management will start the production of biodiesel, vegetable oil, animal feed and sugar. Additionally, the Algerian plan also includes the creation of a new logistics hub to favor the site’s import-export business.
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