No decision yet on AoG
Canadian aluminium giant Alcan said yesterday it is still considering offers for its 60 percent stake in Aluminium of Greece (AoG). In a reply letter to the Athens bourse, AoG said Alcan notified it on August 4 that it «has received and is examining various written offers from interested investors but has not decided on the bids.» Alcan said it would promptly inform AoG and its shareholders as soon as a decision is made. So far two binding bids are known for AoG, those of the Mytilineos Group and from the Swiss company Glencore. Mytilineos’s offer is valid until November 6; a source close to the deal told Reuters last week that Alcan was expected to announce a decision in early November. Based on its current share price, a 60 percent stake in AoG is valued at about 150 million euros. By year’s end Alcan, which has bought out AoG’s founder, Pechiney, will know the outcome of a financial and technical study on AoG’s proposed combined power and steam plant which should meet 100 percent of the company’s power requirements. The study’s outcome will determine whether Alcan keeps or sells AoG. Founded in 1960, Aluminium of Greece is one of the country’s biggest foreign investments. Being a purely exporting enterprise, it has been heavily affected by the steep fall in the dollar. It currently employs 2,000. The company’s plant in Viotia produces alumina (aluminum oxide) and aluminium using bauxite as its raw material, which it gets both from a company-owned mine and from S&B Industrial Minerals of the Kyriakopoulos Group.
