Ex-Ilva steel plant suffered from the increase in energy prices and a drop in rolled coil prices; it continued to be running short of cash and also accumulated a large amount of debt to its suppliers, especially the energy company Eni (ENI.MI). For the past few months, the situation that production was reduced and partial business being shut down put many workers on furlough.

After Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti and Cabinet Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano met with ArcelorMittal CEO Aditya Mittal in Rome, a cabinet statement said ArcelorMittal rejected Italian government's plan to take a controlling stake in Acciaierie d'Italia (ADI), which is one of the largest steel plants in Europe formerly known as Ilva.

At present, the world's second-largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, owns 62% of ADI, and the state-owned investment agency, Invitalia, has the rest 38%. Invitalia was ready to input around EUR 320 million into ADI to raise its stake to 66%, but ArcelorMittal refused.