Century Aluminum Co. now owns nearly half of the Mt. Holly aluminum smelter in Berkeley County.
The Monterey, California, company said Monday that it had completed its purchase of a 23% share of the plant from Xstrata AG of Switzerland for $95 million. The deal raises Century’s ownership to 49.67%. Alcoa Inc., the plant’s managing partner, owns the rest.
Century’s subsidiary Berkeley Aluminum Inc. closed the purchase April 7 and paid with available cash, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The price is subject to adjustments after closing.
Century announced the agreement Feb. 7. “This transaction is the first step in our strategy to increase Century’s participation in the primary aluminum business,” Chairman Craig A. Davis said then in the company’s announcement. He called Mt. Holly “a first-rate facility” and Alcoa “a strong managing partner.”
Xstrata Chief Executive Daniel J. Sauter said in the same announcement that the sale fit the Swiss company’s plan to focus on its core business as a producer of ferrochrome and vanadium.
The Mt. Holly plant can produce 215,000 metric tons of primary aluminum a year, according to Century. Built in 1980, it is the newest primary aluminum plant in the United States, the company said in its annual report. It has two production lines with a total of 360 cells, and its cast house turns out T-ingot, rolling and foundry ingot and extrusion billet.
The purchase gives Century a total of 275,000 metric tons a year of primary aluminum capacity at two locations. The other is its smelter in Ravenswood, West Virginia. Last September, Century sold its Ravenswood rolling business and a California cast plate unit to Pechiney for $248 million, and it said the proceeds would go to retire debt and buy more primary aluminum capacity.
Glencore International AG, a metals trader, owned 39.2% of Century’s stock at the end of 1999 and is also a major shareholder of Xstrata, according to Century. Century said in February that it would sign a 10-year contract to sell Glencore 50,000 metric tons of primary aluminum a year once the deal closed.
