ArcelorMittal legal battle with Italy continues

Luxembourg-based steel producer ArcelorMittal S.A. says it has been served by the commissioners of fellow steel producer Acciaierie d’Italia S.p.A. (ADI) with a writ of summons to appear before the Court of Milan in Italy.

The summons traces back to a legal confrontation earlier this decade between ArcelorMittal and the government of Italy that occurred when their Invitalia joint venture to run ADI (formerly known as Ilva) ended when the government placed the ADI assets into bankruptcy administration in 2024.

At that time, ArcelorMittal accused government-affiliated Invitalia entities of “delivering less than one-third of the 2 billion euros ($2.38 billion)” ArcelorMittal says had been pledged to Invitalia.

 “When we were not able to agree on acceptable terms, we also offered to sell our shareholding in ADI to Invitalia [but] the discussions, despite ArcelorMittal’s best efforts, were not successful,” the steelmaker said at that time.

Now, ArcelorMittal says it sees “no factual nor legal basis for this claim and will defend its position vigorously before all the competent venues.”

Continues the steel producer “ArcelorMittal categorically rejects any and all allegations set out in the claim, including, but not limited to, allegations that it induced ADI’s directors and local management to engage in acts of mismanagement as part of a ‘unified’ strategy to run down the plants, ‘destroy’ ADI and its business, and ultimately ‘loot’ profits out of Italy, causing ADI damages of approximately 7 billion euros ($8.3 billion).”

Instead, says ArcelorMittal, it “has a strong history of rehabilitating underperforming assets” and in the case of ADI had “fulfilled all of its obligations.”

The global steel producer says in Italy it was “required to operate in a context that, soon after completion of the transaction, became profoundly affected by an adversarial attitude and willful acts and omissions on the part of Invitalia and Ilva as well as omissions and illegitimate legislative interventions by the Italian government.”

Those actions include one in 2019, less than a year after ArcelorMittal had commenced leasing the business units, through which “the Italian government removed legal protections that were necessary for ArcelorMittal to implement the environmental plan without risk of criminal liability stemming from the status of the plants,” says the steelmaker.