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Rio Tinto plans to seal its first Pacific Aluminium deal
Edited by : AL CIRCLE
2 min read
By now Rio Tinto is well aware of what it’s like to own assets its register really wished it didn’t. Thankfully, a finish line appears in site for at least some of the Pacific Aluminium assets.
Mining giant Rio Tinto hopes to seal its first Pacific Aluminium deal almost a year after quarantining its unwanted aluminium assets. According to Reuters, Rio Tinto Alcan chief executive Jacynthe Cote has told an aluminium conference in Abu Dhabi that talks over the binding offer from private equity group HIG for the three speciality alumina plants in France and one in Germany are “going very well” and should be completed “sometime in the third quarter”.
Rio announced the Pacific Aluminium proposal in October last year and hasn’t managed to secure a transaction to date. In fact steep power bills in the UK forced Rio to shut the Lynemouth smelter and concerns have been raised about the viability of the US Sebree smelter and the NSW Tomago smelter.
But the mining giant has always maintained that it won’t be bullied into offloading the assets at a price it doesn’t consider reasonable. Cote was sticking to this script in Abu Dhabi, telling the audience no decision had been made about whether the Australia-New Zealand assets would be jettisoned in a trade sale or an IPO.
Mining giant Rio Tinto hopes to seal its first Pacific Aluminium deal almost a year after quarantining its unwanted aluminium assets. According to Reuters, Rio Tinto Alcan chief executive Jacynthe Cote has told an aluminium conference in Abu Dhabi that talks over the binding offer from private equity group HIG for the three speciality alumina plants in France and one in Germany are “going very well” and should be completed “sometime in the third quarter”.
Rio announced the Pacific Aluminium proposal in October last year and hasn’t managed to secure a transaction to date. In fact steep power bills in the UK forced Rio to shut the Lynemouth smelter and concerns have been raised about the viability of the US Sebree smelter and the NSW Tomago smelter.
But the mining giant has always maintained that it won’t be bullied into offloading the assets at a price it doesn’t consider reasonable. Cote was sticking to this script in Abu Dhabi, telling the audience no decision had been made about whether the Australia-New Zealand assets would be jettisoned in a trade sale or an IPO.
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