Novelis enters into joint venture with Kobe Steel in South Korea

Aditya Birla Group company Novelis,  global leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, has entered into a joint venture agreement with Kobe Steel, a producer of aluminum rolled products in Japan.

The joint venture - to be named Ulsan Aluminum - will be formed by Novelis selling to Kobe Steel 50 per cent of its ownership interest in its Ulsan, South Korea facility for $315 million.

Novelis is a subsidiary of Hindalco Industries, the flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group.

Through the venture, Novelis and Kobe Steel will jointly own and operate the Ulsan facility, with each company remaining responsible for its metal supply and commercial relationships. The joint venture transaction is expected to close in September 2017, subject to customary closing conditions.

By entering into this joint venture, Novelis will better utilise its rolling capacity at Ulsan, which will continue to focus on automotive and specialty sheet in order to meet the increasing demand for lightweight rolled aluminum products across Asia.

Partnering with Kobe will allow Novelis to drive operational efficiencies and process enhancements.

As a result, Novelis' Ulsan facility, along with its Yeongju facility in South Korea and its Changzhou facility in China, will be better positioned to deliver innovative, value-added products and services to customers, the company said in a statement. The transaction will generate cash proceeds to enhance Novelis' strategic flexibility and reduce its net debt.

''As a company, we constantly identify business opportunities that allow us to deliver maximum value across our global operations and we continue to see Asia as a strategic market,'' said Steve Fisher, president and chief executive officer of Novelis. ''By entering into this joint venture, we are able to leverage our deep experience with other successful joint ventures to more efficiently serve our customers and increase our strategic flexibility in order to capitalise on potential future market opportunities.''

Located in the industrial hub of Korea, Novelis' Ulsan facility employs about 600 people and currently focuses on the production of rolled aluminum sheet for a variety of markets in Asia. The plant recently completed a major expansion, adding a new three-stand hot finishing mill as well as a pusher furnace and annealing furnaces.

Novelis is also the world's largest recycler of aluminum. The company operates in 10 countries, has about 12,000 employees and had $10 billion in revenue for its 2016 fiscal year. It supplies premium aluminum sheet and foil products to transportation, packaging, construction, industrial and consumer electronics markets throughout North America, Europe, Asia and South America.