Reuters: Bankruptcy News: RPT-UPDATE 1-Italy may name administrator for ILVA steel group-minister

Reuters: Bankruptcy News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

RPT-UPDATE 1-Italy may name administrator for ILVA steel group-minister May 29th 2013, 17:32 Wed May 29, 2013 1:32pm EDT (Repeats to additional Reuters clients) (Adds detail) BRUSSELS May 29 (Reuters) - Italy is considering appointing a special administrator to manage steel group ILVA, hit by an environmental and corruption scandal at its plant in southern Italy, Industry Minister Flavio Zanonato said on Wednesday. The future of the plant, which accounts for some 40 percent of Italy's steel output, has been in the balance since magistrates in July ordered its partial closure following a series of reports into emissions of cancer-causing chemicals from the huge site. The crisis accelerated last week when magistrates seized 8.1 billion euros ($10.5 billion) in assets from the controlling Riva family, triggering the resignation of ILVA's board and raising questions over whether the site can remain operational. Prime Minister Enrico Letta's government held talks with board members this week and is desperate to preserve the largest plant in Italy's underdeveloped south. Zanonato said on Wednesday the government was working on potentially naming an administrator to manage ILVA and oversee a two-year clean-up plan for the Taranto plant. The move would be similar to former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's appointment of administrators to rescue dairy group Parmalat after it filed for bankruptcy in 2003. "It's an option we are working on," Zanonato told reporters in Brussels. "One of the options is to make sure those responsible for the clean-up are not the ones who polluted." The Riva family, which controls ILVA through holding company Riva Fire, is considering the option of selling its holding in the steel producer, a source close to the government's discussions told Reuters. Magistrates ordered assets to be seized from Riva Fire on suspicion of criminal association to commit environmental offences linked to steel production at ILVA. They placed the group's chairman Emilio Riva under house arrest last year and opened investigations into alleged corruption and tax evasion by the group's management. At stake are the jobs of some 12,000 ILVA employees and at least another 8,000 ancillary workers at the plant. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Massimiliano di Giorgio; Writing by Catherine Hornby; Editing by David Holmes) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions