Pechiney

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Pechiney SA was a major aluminum conglomerate based in France until it was acquired in 2003 by the Alcan corporation headquartered in Canada.

Prior to its acquisition, Pechiney grew to be the world's 4th largest producer and developer of aluminum products, employing 34,000 people and operating 320 manufacturing and sales facilities in 50 countries at the time it was purchased by Alcan.

The group operated in all facets of the aluminum industry from bauxite mining to the development of sophisticated applications of metal products in addition to international commodities trading and brokerage of the metal on the London Metal Exchange (LME).

Pechiney gained world-wide recognition for its use of electrolysis technology, and was a leader in specialty packaging and aerospace applications [1].

[edit] History

The company was originally founded in 1855 by Henri Merle as a producer of caustic soda at a manufacturing facility in Salindres. The original name of the business was Compagnie des Produits Chimiques Henri Merle, afterwhat it turned to Péchiney SA, to become in 1897 the Société des Produits Chimiques d'Alais et de la Camargue. The company first began producing aluminum metal in 1860 using a chemically-based process developed by Henri Sainte-Claire Deville in 1854 and was granted a 30 year monopoly by the French government. The corporate name was changed to Pechiney in 1948, after a former influential managing director referred to by the same name, A. R. Pechiney.