The 28th of April 2001 Argentine press announced the death of Agostino Rocca, Chairman of the Technit Group. His death occurred, when he was only 55, in Roque Perez  - province of Buenos Aires - in an aeroplane disaster.

An ice cap could be the cause of the fall of the private aeroplane of Agostino Rocca, on which no other people were travelling. According to what the judge of the Azul Federal Court stated, we will have to wait 5 months before finding out what really happened: "nobody can give serious explanations until the remains of the plane will have been taken out. The plane will be reconstructed in its remaining pieces in the location of Don Torcuato to make all the necessary tests".

Thus the story of Agostino Rocca, of Italian birth  - Milanese to be exact - , with a degree from the Bocconi University and then from the Cornell University in the United States, abruptly ends.

Certain of undertaking an important role within Techint, the group founded by his grandfather, he decided to mature some professional experiences abroad: Mc Kinsey in Paris and Poretti Spa in Italy. Once back , Rocca becomes part of the Techint group holding - for 16 years  - with the charge of Vice-chairman of the Finance and Control area and Chairman of the activities in Latin America. From 1993 to the end of April 2001 he was Chairman of the group.

His management style was agile, direct and oriented to promote his team work. Agostino Rocca was an eager promoter of the internal debate among his collaborators, aware of his new role as strategy referent in decisive choices. He liked to be surrounded by motivated and brave professionals who were willing to find solutions even beyond their responsibility area. He loved to work near the places where group activities, whether they were a iron and steel plant, engineering works or a petrol well.

What does the Techint group represent for Argentina and for the world?

It is an industrial group which operates in the field of iron and steel, engineering and building, energy, industrial plants and services. With a total of 20 branches in different nations, the main headquarters are in Buenos Aires and Milan. The group has an overall turnover of 6 billion dollars and currently employs 33.000 employees.

The Techint group plays a primary and important role actively getting involved in the argentine privatisation process. In this respect it has taken over, in the 90's, the company Aceros Paranà (ex Somisa and current Sidecar), managing to integrate the iron and steel process for the manufacturing of sheet products in Argentina and becoming, in less than 10 years, one of the main referents for public services in the filed of telecommunications, transportation and gas distribution, as well as railways and motorways.

A particularly important development also befell other two companies of the group, the Tecpetrol, a company dedicated to the exploration and extraction of oil and gas and Siderea, an integrated plant from Campana (province of Buenos Aires) who produce and export steel tubes without soldering.

The "post" Agostino Rocca

Faced with the premature disappearance of his leader, the Techint group has unified all their trademarks in the iron and steel sector under the common name of  Tenaris, an entity who means to supply products and services, global solutions to problems of their customers in the world.