Former Ilva, the court says no to protective measures: “There is no prospect of recovery”

There are no conditions to grant the former Ilva protective measures against banks and other creditors. The Milan court rejects the appeal aimed at obtaining injunctive or precautionary measures presented by Acciaierie d’Italia, as part of the negotiated crisis settlement procedure. The company thus becomes “attacked” by bodies and companies, such as Unicredit and Ilva in extraordinary administration (the latter owning the plants), for the recovery of unsatisfied credits. The reasons for the provision, which rely on the reasoned opinion of an expert appointed by the judges of the Lombardy capital, do not seem to leave room for an outcome of the dispute other than extraordinary administration. Moreover, it is the Minister of Business himself, Adolfo Urso, who defines it as “a very concrete eventuality”. The court order is clear: “The unsuitability of the plan to overcome the crisis and, therefore, the absence of concrete recovery prospects, not only do not allow the protective measures to be confirmed, but at the same time do not make them worthy of acceptance the precautionary and injunction measures requested from Ilva spa and other credit institutions”. The court believes that the ongoing confrontation between the private partner ArcelorMittal and the public partner Invitalia is destined to end up on a dead end. “The protective and precautionary measures – he underlines – must be able to avoid prejudice or ensure the successful outcome of the negotiations”. Conversely, “if the path of concrete and effective entrepreneurial recovery to be pursued through long negotiations, as in the present case, appears precluded from the outset by the unresolved conflicts between the shareholders and the absence of external resources that allow an injection of cash liquidity immediately to support continuity, any instrumental link between the requested precautionary and protective measures and the regulation of the entrepreneurial crisis ceases”. At the basis of the rejection of the request, there is also the need to “stem as much as possible the increase in liabilities and the erosion of the financial guarantee for creditors”. In short, the inhibition of executive and precautionary actions would expose creditors to “unjustified and disproportionate prejudice”. The measure worsens the company’s situation even further. Which, however, continues to “fight” on multiple fronts. Added to the tug of war with the unions, which culminated in a complaint announced by CEO Lucia Morselli against the leader of Uil, Rocco Palombella, who accused her of telling “only lies”, is the clash with the commissioners of the old Ilva , to whom the same CEO communicated that it will not deliver the documents required to carry out the inspection of the plants. The Minister of Business, Adolfo Urso, also points the finger at the company. Speaking in Bari at a CGIL initiative, he underlines that “to date the company has not provided any information extracted from its databases regarding the companies that can use the tools that we have put in place with the law decree”. According to Urso, partial information has been transmitted to date. “The composition of the debt has not been communicated – reveals the minister – and whether it concerns certain, liquid and collectible credits. We were limited, to an incomplete extent, to information on a few dozen companies compared to a few thousand. It seems to us that there was no collaboration from the company to allow its suppliers to use the tools that the government has put in place and which I hope will be converted into law with the constructive contribution of parliament”. On Monday the government will meet trade unions and representatives of related companies at Palazzo Chigi. Given the latest developments, the former Ilva dispute seems to have reached the final headlines.