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

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

, 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.

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