Corus sells last aluminum smelters to PE firm

23 January 2009

Corus, the European steel arm of Tata Steel has signed a share purchase agreement to sell two aluminum smelters to Briand Investments B.V., an affiliate of London-based Klesch, one of the biggest private-equity firms in the metals industry at a time when prices and demand for the metal has fallen.

The two smelters, sold for an undisclosed sum, are located in Delfzijl in the Netherlands, and Voerde, Germany, and have combined annual production of more than 250,000 metric tons of primary aluminum.

Corus said the transaction remains subject to conditions being fulfilled by both the parties.

In August, Corus said that it wanted to concentrate on its core business of steel making and had initiated talks with Klesch to sell its aluminum subsidiaries in the Netherlands and Germany.

The aluminum smelters were the last remaining aluminum business with Corus as it had sold its aluminum rolled products and extrusions business to Aleris in 2006 for €826 million.

Klesch owns Zeeland Aluminium Company in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, which produces 260,000 tonnes of primary aluminium metal per annum and is currently building a 725,000 tonnes primary aluminium smelter in Libya.