The Indian firm and Italy's Arvedi have submitted competing offers to acquire the sprawling Ilva steelworks in Taranto

India's Jindal Steel International is competing with Italy's Arvedi Group to acquire the country's troubled former Ilva steelworks, with both companies submitting binding bids for all its active industrial assets, Reuters reported on Monday.

The proposed acquisition includes the sprawling Taranto plant in southern Italy, which directly employs around 8,000 workers. Once Europe's largest steelworks, the facility supplies steel to industries including construction and automobile manufacturing.

Ilva is an example of a 'cathedral in the desert', a term coined in Italy for massive industrial factories built in the agricultural south during the post-World War 2 economic boom. Such projects generally provided no long-term benefit. 

The firm, now known as Acciaierie d'Italia (AdI), has struggled with financial losses and operational difficulties. The Italian Supreme Court upheld an order last month to shut down its blast furnaces over health and environmental concerns. The shutdown began November 3, complicating plans to revive production and shift toward cleaner steelmaking.

Naveen Jindal, the billionaire chairman of Jindal Steel, previously expressed interest in the steelworks and visited Taranto in April, local reports said. Jindal also made an attempt to acquire a stake in Germany's Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe but the negotiations were paused in May. The group already owns Czech steel producer Vitkovice Steel, which it acquired in 2024. 

Arvedi, which has also bid for Ilva, operates steel plants in Cremona and Terni, employs around 6,400 people, and produces flat-rolled steel products. The two are the only remaining bidders.

State-appointed administrators will now assess the proposals against the tender requirements. Neither the financial value of the bids nor a timeline for selecting a buyer has been disclosed.

Jindal's bid comes close on the heels of India's Adani Ports, owned by billionaire Gautam Adani, agreeing to buy another European asset, the Dutch liquid-storage operator Evos, in a $2.9 billion deal. It is also reportedly interested in Evos' rival Rotterdam-based VTTI.