Gruppo Riva

Gruppo Riva
Private
Industry Steel
Founded 1954
Founder Adriano and Emilio Riva
Headquarters Milan, Italy
Key people
 Emilio Riva , Chairman
Claudio Riva, CEO
Products Hot rolled flat steel
Bars
Iron rod
Slabs
Revenue Increase € 11.261 billion (2008)
Increase € 0.738 billion (2008)
Increase € 0.503 billion (2008)
Total equity Increase € 4.502 billion (2008)
Number of employees
 24,151 (2008)
Website www.rivagroup.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

Gruppo Riva is an Italian steel producer. After the Arcelor-Mittal merger and the takeover of Corus by Tata Steel, the group is currently the world’s eighteenth and Europe's third largest steel producer.[2] Riva Group (consisting of two companies, Riva Acciaio and Ilva) is private-owned and the whole shareholders' equity is held by the Riva family, through the financial institution "Riva FIRE" (which stands for "Finanziaria Industriale Riva Emilio").

History

Riva Acciaio was founded in 1954 in Milan by Adriano and Emilio Riva as an iron scrap trading business. In 1957 the first Riva Acciaio mini-mill was built in Caronno Pertusella near Varese. A few years later, this plant became the first steelworks in Italy to use continuous casting, in partnership with steel plant engineer Danieli. In the 1960s and 1970s Riva expanded by means of the acquisition of several small steel producers in Northern Italy and Spain (Siderurgica Sevillana). In the 1980s Riva made further acquisitions in Italy (the previously state-owned steelworks Acciaierie di Cornigliano), in Belgium and in France. In 1991 it acquired two mini-mills in the former German Democratic Republic. In 1995 Riva Acciaio purchased ILVA,becoming one of the main European steel companies.

Facilities

The Ilva plant in Taranto is the largest steelworks in Europe, equipped with five blast furnaces. Riva Acciaio's headquarters are in Milan, and facilities are located in Northern Italy (Caronno Pertusella, Verona, Sellero, Lesegno).

Criticism

Taranto Plant

In 2001 the Tribunal of Taranto declared Emilo Riva, his son Claudio and other ILVA managers guilty of attempted illegal coercion of ILVA employees whom they had demoted in 1998. This judgement was confirmed in 2006 in the Court of Cassation.[3] In February 2007, Emilio Riva was sentenced to three years in prison, and Claudio Riva to 18 months, for neglect of work safety procedures and violation of anti-pollution regulations violations in the management of the Taranto coke plant.[4]

Plant of Genova

In 2006 Emilio Riva and his sons Fabio Arturo and Claudio were condemned to 1 year and 4 months in prison (commuted) and ordered to compensate the civil parties Legambiente and Associazione per Cornigliano, and the political party Federazione dei Verdi for environmental pollution caused by ILVA plants. On 19 January 2009, the Court of Appeal declared all crimes related to pollution derived from the coke plant to have exceeded their period of prescription, while remitting to the public prosecutor all matters related to the blast furnace, due to a judicial error (though these would, in any case, have exceeded their period of prescription by 2010). Emilio’s son Nicola and other plant managers were acquitted on appeal or because of the statute of limitations, and damages to civil parties were overthrown, although Legambiente and Associazione per Cornigliano were awarded 2005 Euros in legal expenses.[5][6][7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "RIVA FIRE 2008 Highlights" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-10-29.
  2. ↑ "Group outline". Riva group.
  3. ↑ Alessandro Marescotti. "Ilva/Mobbing - Cassazione: Riva colpevole". La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, 9 March 2006. (Italian)
  4. ↑ Alessandro Marescotti. "Condannati i vertici Ilva di Taranto per inquinamento e infortuni". La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, 12 February 2007. (Italian)
  5. ↑ "Accolte tutte le tesi dell' accusa". La Repubblica, Genova, 8 October 2006. (Italian)
  6. ↑ "Un cavillo salva Riva il caso Ilva va in prescrizione". La Repubblica, Genova, 20 January 2009. (Italian)
  7. ↑ "Ilva, inquinamento prescritto il caso altoforno torna al pm". Il Secolo XIX, 19 January 2009. (Italian)