PARIS (Reuters) – Steelmaker ArcelorMittal will invest 180 million euros in its Florange steelworks in northern France under a deal with the government to save jobs at two shuttered blast furnaces, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Friday.

Ayrault said the investment, to be made over five years, meant there would be no layoffs at the site, although the two blast furnaces would not be restarted for now given flagging demand for steel in Europe.

“The government decided against the idea of a temporary nationalization,” Ayrault told reporters, three hours before a midnight deadline to strike a deal, adding: “There will be no redundancy plan.”

(Reporting by Brian Love; Writing by Catherine Bremer)

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/11/30/business/30reuters-france-arcelormittal-plan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss