Switzerland-based Sider Alloys will conclude a deal to purchase Alcoa's Italian aluminum business by February 15 as part of a Eur145 million re-launch plan supported by the Italian government through a series of fiscal incentives, putting an end to a five-year search for a buyer, trade union sources told S&P Global Platts.
The Alcoa-Invitalia state-structured project will foresee the transfer of Alcoa Italy to state-owned investment vehicle Invitalia ahead of the sale of the business to Sider Alloys ahead of a February 15 deadline, the union representative said, citing information provided at a government-Alcoa meeting last week.
Neither Sider Alloys nor Alcoa were immediately available for comment.
The re-launch plan foresees investments of Eur135-145 million, of which some Eur94 million will be subsidized by the Italian government through tax incentives, the union source said.
The plan foresees the rehiring of the entire workforce active at the time the smelter was closed in 2012, he said.
Details of this will be discussed at meetings between unions and the government in January, when the new business plan will also be unveiled, according to the union source, who cited information provided at a meeting in Sardinia last week.
Last week's meeting at which the agreement between Invitalia and Alcoa for the transfer of the smelter business was signed by Industry Minister Carlo Calenda, Invitalia CEO Domenico Arcuri, Sicily president Franesco Pigliaru as well as Alcoa representatives, union sources said.
The government considers the Alcoa Portovesme smelter to be of primary strategic importance to the nation as it is Italy's sole aluminum production plant, meeting some 80% of total Italian demand for the automotive, aerospace, construction and packaging sectors.
The business ownership of the smelter will first be transferred to state-owned investment agency Invitalia, prior to being transferred to the final buyer, Sider Alloys, the union source said.
When the government first announced the plan in 2016, it said it would be structured this way at the specific request of Alcoa to avoid the attribution of any responsibility to Alcoa if the new investor failed in its attempts to relaunch the business.
Alcoa has been seeking a buyer for the smelter since 2011, when it said it would sell or mothball the facility as part of a wider cost-cutting plan.
