JSW Steel seems to have lost Italy's Lucchini

The Italian steelmaker looks inclined to sell its Piombino complex to family-owned Algerian conglomerate Cevital

JSW Steel, India’s second-largest steel producer, which has been looking to grow via the inorganic route, is likely to have lost the bid for acquisition of Italy’s second-largest steelmaker, Lucchini. According to a Reuters report, the Italian steel maker will ask its government for permission to sell its Piombino complex to family-owned Algerian conglomerate Cevital.

Lucchini was previously owned by Russia’s Severstal but was declared insolvent in 2012 and placed into special administration, battered by slowing demand following the 2008-2009 financial crisis and stiff competition from Asia. “No formal communication has been made to us by Lucchini so far,” joint managing director Seshagiri Rao of JSW Steel told Business Standard.

The company had received two offers for its core assets in Piombino, one from Cevital and the other from Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel .

The Cevital offer was more attractive as it foresaw full employment at Piombino, partly by branching out into agriculture, food and logistics operations, said Reuters report.

The Piombino complex employs about 2,000 people and can produce up to 2.5 million tonne of steel a year, it said.

Piombino is one of the main industrial plants in Italy, the second-largest European steel producer after Germany. Lucchini declined to say how much Cevital had offered for its Piombino assets, Reuters said.