Feb 6 2006
RUSAL has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire a majority stake in the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in Akwa Ibom from the Nigerian Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). The $250 million transaction will add almost 150,000 tonnes annually to RUSAL's aluminium production capacity.
According to the terms of the deal, RUSAL has received a 77.5% block of shares in ALSCON, a 193,000-tonne smelter (reduction, anode-producing and casthouse areas), a port on the Imo River and a power-generating station. Germany's Ferrostaal AG and the Government of Nigeria remain minority shareholders with 7.5% and 15% blocks respectively. The $250 million purchase price will cover the purchase of the shares in ALSCON, as well as the dredging of the river. The company, together with Ferrostaal AG and the Government of Nigeria, also plans to invest an additional $150 million over the next three years to complete, refurbish and modernise ALSCON.
«The acquisition is part of our strategy to boost aluminium production and strengthen RUSAL's position as a global company,» said RUSAL CEO Alexander Bulygin. «With its technologies and expertise, RUSAL will ensure that ALSCON's products are highly competitive, transforming the smelter in a key driver behind the development of the Nigerian economy and our business in the region. Having now become one of the largest investors in Nigeria, we are ready to actively contribute to the industrial growth in the country.»
RUSAL already operates the bauxite mining complex Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia and Frigiua Bauxite and Alumina Complex in Guinea. The addition of ALSCON completes RUSAL's output cycle in West Africa, allowing it to boost production efficiency. Aluminium fabricated at ALSCON will be sold to RUSAL's current and potential clients worldwide.
«We are very pleased that RUSAL is committed to this project, which is vitally important to Nigeria and the people of Ikot Abasi in particular,» said BPE General Director Irene Chigbue. «I hope that the successful divestiture of ALSCON to one of the world's largest aluminium producers will send a strong signal to the international community and persuade those investors that are wavering to invest in Nigeria.»
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