Reuters reported that Luxembourg based stainless steel maker Aperam is interested in buying the ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali Terni plant in Italy, the company said, joining what sources said was a list of possible bidders.
Others interested in the plant, put up for sale by Finnish stainless steel maker Outokumpu to gain regulatory approval for another deal, include JP Morgan's private equity arm One Equity and Italian steelmaking group Arvedi.
JP Morgan's buyout arm is one of at least five private equity firms who have showed interest in buying the plant, but Italian unions worry that selling the Terni site to a financial investor will lead to production cuts and job losses.
Outokumpu has committed to sell the Italian mill by May 7 to gain approval for the acquisition of ThyssenKrupp's Inoxum.
An industry source said that "The plant has to be sold within six months so I think a private equity buyer is a more likely option. There seems to be more interest from financial investors than from steelmakers. There are many private equities for which a EUR 500 million acquisition is not very big, so some of them are interested."
Some market players said that Terni site was valued by one analyst at up to USD 1 billion about a year ago, but it has lost some of its value due to a deterioration of economic and market conditions in Europe.
The sale of Italy's biggest stainless steel plant comes at a sensitive time for the country, as its two largest carbon steel producers, Ilva and Lucchini, are under threat of closure, putting at risk up to 30,000 direct and indirect jobs.
