Italy-based Feralpi Group will take full control of Lecco-based company Caleotto Spa by taking over the 50 percent stake currently held by Duferco Italia Holding. Feralpi and Duferco announced the transaction today, January 28, in a joint note stating that only formal approval by the Italian Antitrust Authority is awaited for the go-ahead.
Caleotto, a historical brand in metallurgy in Lecco, was revived almost five years ago, with the birth of the joint venture that led Feralpi Siderurgica Spa and Duferco Italia Holding Spa to acquire and relaunch the Lecco-based rolling mill. The new change in the shareholding structure derives from the industrial evolution of the two groups, the companies explained in their statement. "Feralpi has strengthened itself in the special steel sector, as in the case of the wire rod produced by Caleotto, a sector that is considered strategic for the group. Duferco has major investments underway in the rolling of beams and profiles, including a new rolling mill in Brescia, on which it has focused its resources", reads the press release.
Despite the end of the joint venture, the two companies underline that the operational collaboration between them will not cease. "The production plan will continue despite a cyclical phase which sees the reference market as rather weak - mainly the automotive sector". In fact, "the Caleotto rolling mill will be constantly supplied with billets both by the Feralpi Group through Acciaierie di Calvisano and by Duferco Group in order to guarantee constant industrial activity," the companies stated.
"For the Feralpi Group joining Caleotto has meant entering a market with high added value, in line with the aim of making the business unit of special steels a pillar of our strategic development plan," said Caleotto CEO Lorenzo Angelini. According to Angelini, Caleotto continues to represent "a competitive reality in the national and international market" thanks to its innovative skills and technologies.
Domenico Campanella, CEO of Duferco Italia Holding, stated, "The strategic choices we made together with Feralpi have proven to be valid... but now Duferco has a new challenge ahead. Our industrial structure will change in the coming years thanks to the new beams rolling mill that we are building in Brescia together with Nucor."
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, Duferdofin-Nucor, a joint venture between Duferco and Nucor Corporation, will invest over €150 million for the construction of an integrated plant in San Zeno Naviglio (Brescia), where 150 jobs will be created. The goal is the realization of a rolling plant for beams and profiles with a very low environmental impact, high energy savings, and with the use of renewable energies thanks to a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA). With the new plant, the entire Duferdofin-Nucor production system will reach approximately 1 million mt of rolled products. "It is a big step that requires a concentration of human resources and capital," concluded Campanella.
Caleotto will be present at the Wire 2020 international fair which will take place from March 30 to April 3 in Düsseldorf.