Alcoa sells stake in S.C. aluminum smelter

CHICAGO—Alcoa Inc. has sold it’s stake in the Mt. Holly aluminum smelter to Century Aluminum Co. for about US$67 million.

Alcoa owns a 50.3 per cent stake in the smelter, which is in Berkeley County, S.C. The smelter employs about 600 people and has an annual capacity of 229,000 tonnes of primary aluminum.

Following the closing of the transaction—which is expected at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014—Century will own 100 per cent of Mt. Holly.

“We are obviously familiar with this excellent plant due to our long affiliation, and are excited about the opportunity to assume full ownership. We know that Mt. Holly’s employees share our core values of safety, product quality and customer service. This transaction furthers our intent to increase our North American hot metal capacity and improve the value-added content of our product mix, including continuing to supply aluminum to the automotive, aerospace and other key industries throughout South Carolina and the U.S.,” said Michael Bless, Century’s president and CEO.

“We believe that Mt. Holly is globally competitive in every area except its cost of power and this transaction reflects our continuing confidence in domestic aluminum production,” continued Bless. “Mt. Holly’s future is directly tied to our ability to obtain the power needed to make the plant competitive in the global market and we will work aggressively toward a solution that benefits everyone.”

Century Aluminum owns primary aluminum capacity in the United States and Iceland, with corporate offices in Chicago.