For Arcelor a discount on the 180 million rent. And the state takes shares in the Ilva plant

Table topics include labor costs and factory rental rates. Compared to the fee, which the contract sets at 180 million euros a year, Mittal asks for a strong discount, which the government could recognize as a shareholding in the capital of ArcelorMittal Italia, which today is 95% Am and 5% Intesa Sanpaolo. The hypothesis is that of collecting shares, rather than fees, while lightening the exposure of the multinational to Ilva risk. The quota, still to be defined, should be taken from one of the operational branches of the State, CDP or Invitalia or another vehicle. Considering that just yesterday Moody's, confirming the rating of the group to Baa3 for long-term debt, emphasized the risks for the judgment if the contract with Ilva was not resolved in a timely manner as announced, giving the Italian State a company share would allow the investor to lighten his financial position. Instead of a nationalization, a hypothesis that the government does not exclude, the government and Mittal could mend the rift by becoming partners and therefore sharing the project to reorganize and revitalize the Italian steel industry.

On the employment front, the picture is delicate. According to the reconstruction, the hypothesis of the 5,000 redundancies would not have been proposed by Mittal but would instead be the result of a response given by the group to the Italian government which, during the first meeting with the shareholders, asked what the demand for workers would be if the investor had managed only the cold cycle plants. The President of the Council Giuseppe Conte has already declared that that number is inadmissible, but in the end even the hypothesis of separating the management of the hot cycle from the cold one seems more theoretical than anything else.

According to some, the point of fall on the employment theme could be around 2,500 units, with a massive recourse to layoffs. The point is to understand if it will be a conjunctural measure, aimed at overcoming the difficulties of the next two years, or structural and therefore more difficult to absorb.

The group that wanted to invest 4 billion has excellent reasons to leave Italy. The accounts of the third quarter mark a red for over 500 million, American duties have exacerbated the crisis and the changing attitude of the Italian government has done the rest. For Mittal, leaving means recovering 1.2 billion immediately and collecting the financial markets' consensus on the stock. But also losing the opportunity to find yourself producing steel in Italy with the largest steelworks in Europe when the cycle starts to rise again.

The government is preparing for the worst by studying exit strategies, but does not give up trying to negotiate, taking into account some concessions. The cards remain covered. Next week another meeting could be held. In confirmation of the attempt to mend the fact that the commissioners of Ilva As will present an application to the judicial authority to request that the deadline (December 13) set by the court for the adaptation of the blast furnace 2 under sequestration be extended. Jindal, after being brought up in the last few days, "strongly denies" his interest in Ilva.