Italian stainless steelmaker Acciai Speciali Terni (AST), now part of Arvedi, is to reveal on Friday its industrial plan, Kallanish learns from sources close to the company. An agreement signed this week with trade unions shows that Arvedi intends to hire more workers for AST’s entire hot-end area to increase production to 21 shifts per week.
Unions point out that all existing workers have had their positions confirmed and obtained advantageous conditions for salary and overtime pay at weekends.
Contacted by Kallanish, Arvedi declined to comment further but did confirm the agreement.
Last year, thyssenkrupp completed the sale of the AST stainless steel mill to Arvedi. The two firms agreed that thyssenkrupp will retain a 15% stake in AST to strengthen the already existing cooperation between the companies. The sale of AST will improve the German firm’s net financial position by more than €600 million ($665m).
AST employs around 2,700 people and generated sales of around €2 billion in the 2020-2021 fiscal year. AST combined with Arvedi will become a large stainless and carbon steelmaking processing business with 6,200 employees. Giovanni Arvedi and Mario Caldonazzo are now respectively president and chief executive of Acciai Speciali Terni.
Natalia Capra France
