The American multinational aluminium producer Alcoa Corporation announced the sale of the Avilés and La Coruña plants in Spain to Swiss private-equity investor PARTER Capital Group for an undisclosed amount.
The two Spanish aluminium plants include a casthouse and a paste plant that are currently operating, and two curtailed smelters kept in restart condition. Alcoa started a collective dismissal process in October last year citing structural problems before looking for a new buyer.
The new owner promised to keep the current workforce of 630 workers for at least 24 months and plans to implement reindustrialisation projects for the smelters, potentially bringing back online the curtailed smelting capacity.
Dr. Rüdiger Terhorst – Managing Partner at PARTER Capital Group AG – commented: “Together with the extraordinarily engaged teams in Avilés and La Coruña, we intend to build a positive and lasting future that includes great opportunities for the plants in renewable aluminium markets.”
The sale – coming into effect immediately – was conducted in accordance with the collective dismissal agreement that trade union representatives signed with Alcoa earlier in the year.
The two smelters have a combined capacity of 124,000 tonnes per year. In its decision to sell the plants, Alcoa referred to inefficient technology and high fixed costs such as energy. The Spanish government on the other had criticised Alcoa’s lack of investment.
PARTER Capital Group is an independent Swiss investment group that specialises in the takeover of industrial groups facing financial complications.