Three firms eye Rio Tinto’s unit

At least three companies including Glencore and Trimet Aluminium have expressed an interest in buying Rio Tinto’s aluminium assets in Iceland, Sweden and the Netherlands for up to $350 million, banking sources said.

Rio Tinto restarted the sale process for the assets in late 2018, with the help of French investment bank Natixis, sources previously said, after Norwegian aluminium company Norsk Hydro pulled out of buying them, blaming a delay in getting European Commission approval. Given Hydro is already a major player in the aluminium industry, the European Commission may have had competition concerns, sources said.

As well as an aluminium smelter in Iceland, Rio has put on the block a 53% stake in a Dutch anode facility and 50% of the shares in a Swedish aluminium fluoride plant, which are ingredients in aluminium production. Rio Tinto declined to comment.

After a year of volatility caused by US sanctions and supply reduction at Hydro’s massive Alunorte alumina plant in Brazil, the aluminium market has stabilised, which could make a sale easier to agree.

Commodity trader and miner Glencore is among interested parties, the sources said. Glencore, which doesn’t directly own aluminium assets, has offtake agreements with other producers, including US Century Aluminium, in which it has a more than 40 per cent stake, and Russia’s Rusal.

Sources put Glencore’s agreements to buy aluminium from smelters around the world at a total of about 3 million tonnes or 10 per cent of supply outside the biggest producer China.

German aluminium producer Trimet Aluminium is looking to increase production as part of its push to increase supply to the auto construction sector, betting on growth in electric vehicles, the sources said.

Reuters