Riva Forni Electrici S.p.A. is a major Italian
steel producer. Riva is a
privately held company
A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...
, the whole shareholders' equity being held by the Riva family.
History
Early history
Riva Acciaio was founded in 1954 in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
by Adriano and Emilio Riva as an iron scrap trading business. In 1957, the first Riva Acciaio mini-mill was built in
Caronno Pertusella
Caronno Pertusella ( lmo, Caronn e Pertusella ) is a town and ''comune'' located in the province of Varese, in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. It has a population of about 17.775.
See also
* S.C. Caronnese S.S.D.
* Caronno Pertusella r ...
near
Saronno
Saronno (; lmo, Saronn ) is a ''comune'' of Lombardy, Italy, in the province of Varese. It received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree in 1960. With an estimated population of 39,351 inhabitants, it is the most densely populated ...
. A few years later, this plant became the first steelworks in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
to use
continuous casting
Continuous casting, also called strand casting, is the process whereby molten metal is solidified into a "semifinished" billet, bloom, or slab for subsequent rolling in the finishing mills. Prior to the introduction of continuous casting in the ...
, in partnership with steel plant engineer Danieli. In the 1960s, Riva expanded in Italy by purchasing smaller rivals.
1970s–1990s
Starting from the 1970s, Riva took part in the privatization process of the ailing European steel industry by making further acquisitions in European countries such as
* the previously state-owned steelworks
Acciaierie di Cornigliano in
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
,
* the
Thy-Marcinelle plant in
Charleroi Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, and
* the Alpa plant in
Gargenville France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
In 1992, it acquired directly from the German Treuhandanstalt two important plants (Brandenburger Elektrostahlwerke and Henningsdorfer Elektrostahlwerke) in the former
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**G ...
.
In 1995, Riva Acciaio purchased the
ILVA
ILVA is a Danish chain of furniture stores, offering mostly Scandinavian-style bed-, dining- and living room products. The company was founded in 1974, and currently runs eight stores in the Nordic countries. It also had three stores in Brit ...
plant in
Taranto
Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...
from the Italian government, becoming one of the main European steel producers.
Due to the important role played in the privatization of the European steel industry, Emilio Riva was awarded the
Grand Cross of Merit by the King of Belgium (2000), the
Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
(2002) and the French
Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
(2005).
Étienne Davignon
Étienne, Count Davignon (born 4 October 1932 in Budapest, Hungary) is a Belgian politician, businessman, and former vice-president of the European Commission.
Career
After receiving a Doctorate of Law from the Catholic University of Louvai ...
, former European Commissioner and Vice-president of the European Commission, has defined Emilio Riva as “prophet of this dynamic and optimistic vision of private enterprise”, affirming that “steelmaking is not an industry like the others, and the Riva group is not an industrial group like the others”.
Pollution at ILVA Taranto plant
On March 8, 2006, the Court of Cassation convicted Emilio Riva to 18 months granting conditional leniency, with regard to events occurred from December 1997 to November 1998 related to an attempted illegal coercion of some ILVA employees which Emilio Riva had been charged with others.
On June 16, 2010, the Court of Cassation declared the extinction because of the statute of limitations of all the violations which Emilio Riva, among others, had been charged with, as to the events occurred from July 2000 to September 2002 related to the supposed violation of anti-pollution regulations in the management of the
Ilva
ILVA is a Danish chain of furniture stores, offering mostly Scandinavian-style bed-, dining- and living room products. The company was founded in 1974, and currently runs eight stores in the Nordic countries. It also had three stores in Brit ...
factory of Taranto.
Pollution at Genoa plant
On January 19, 2009, the Court of Appeal of Genoa declared null and void the first instance's verdict related to the charge of pollution and declared the extinction because of the statute of limitations of the other minor charges which Emilio Riva and two of his sons had been charged with in the management of the
Ilva
ILVA is a Danish chain of furniture stores, offering mostly Scandinavian-style bed-, dining- and living room products. The company was founded in 1974, and currently runs eight stores in the Nordic countries. It also had three stores in Brit ...
factory of Genoa, with regard to events occurred from 1995 to 2002 related to the violation of anti-pollution regulations.
Ilva scandal
On February 2, 2012, a report by
Istituto Superiore di Sanità
The ''Istituto Superiore di Sanità'' (Italian National Institute of Health, literally 'Higher Health Institute'), also ISS, is an Italian public institution that, as the leading technical-scientific body of the Italian National Health Service (' ...
revealed extreme levels of air pollution and an abnormal incidence of cancer and cardiovascular diseases around the city of
Taranto
Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...
, where the ILVA giant steelworks are located. Following the report, Emilio Riva and his son Nicola, along with Taranto plant top managers, were arrested for allegedly causing an
environmental disaster
An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is defined as a catastrophic event regarding the natural environment that is due to human activity.Jared M. Diamond, '' Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed'', 2005 This point disti ...
, and the plant was seized. However, the resulting ''Ambiente Svenduto'' (Italian for "environment undersold") trial has been mostly inconclusive. Emilio Riva died in 2014, aged 87, while his brother Adriano Riva, that succeeded Emilio at the top of the family business after the scandal, died in 2019, aged 88, after having reached a €1.3 billion settlement with the Italian state.
On 24 April 2018 another son of founder Emilio, Fabio Riva ex-deputy of Riva Group, was convicted for fraud and sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in jail.
In May 2018 the Italian state, which had escheated ILVA by the ruckus, now sold the Taranto plant to
ArcelorMittal
ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourgian multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the second la ...
for 1.8 billion.
Also included in the transaction were the
Genoa steelworks and the
Novi Ligure
Novi Ligure (; lij, Nêuve ; pms, Neuvi ) is a city and ''comune'' north of Genoa, in the Piedmont region of the province of Alessandria of northwest Italy.
The town produces food, iron, steel, and textiles. It is an important junction for both ...
steelworks.
On 31 May 2021 the former owners of the Ilva steelworks, Fabio and Nicola Riva, were sentenced to 22 and 20 years in jail respectively for allowing it to spew out deadly pollution. Several other people were also sentenced, including former
President of Apulia Nichi Vendola to 3.5 years in prison.
See also
*
List of steel producers
This is a list of the largest steel-producing companies in the world mostly based on the list by the World Steel Association. This list ranks steelmakers by volume of steel production in millions of tonnes and includes all steelmakers with product ...
*
Ilva (company)
*
Thy-Marcinelle, Belgian subsidiary
History of the Riva Group since 1954Official web site Ilva Taranto plantOfficial web site School project Ilva TarantoOfficial web site Centro Studi Ilva Taranto
Further reading
* Margherita Balconi, ''La siderurgia italiana 1945-1990: tra sostegno pubblico ed incentivi del mercato'', Bologna, Il Mulino, 1990—
* ''Le privatizzazioni in Italia'', Milan, Mediobanca Ricerche e Studi, 2000—
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruppo Riva
Steel companies of Italy
Multinational companies headquartered in Italy
Manufacturing companies based in Milan
Manufacturing companies established in 1954
Italian companies established in 1954
Italian brands
Caronno Pertusella