| Type | (LSE: RIO) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Aerospace, Mass Transportation, Building, Construction, Packaging, Aluminium, Alumina. |
| Founded | 1902 as a subsidiary of Alcoa |
| Headquarters | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Key people | Jacynthe Côté, President and CEO |
| Products | Aluminas, aluminium sheet, extrusion billet, rod and remelt ingot, alloys, cable, packaging |
| Net income | $2.786 billion USD (2006) |
| Employees | 68,000 (including joint-ventures) |
| Parent | Rio Tinto |
| Website | http://www.riotinto.com/riotintoalcan/ |
Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. is a Canadian company based in Montreal. It was created on November 15, 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto PLC's Canadian subsidiary, Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc., and Canadian company Alcan Inc. On the same date, Alcan Inc. was renamed Rio Tinto Alcan Inc..
Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. is the global leader of aluminium mining and production, above its one time parent Alcoa (from which it split in 1928), Rusal and some Chinese public companies.
Contents |
Founded in 1902 as the Canadian unit of Alcoa, it was spun off in 1928.
Alcan has gone through several name changes:
In 2008 Alcan Inc was amalgamated with Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc following Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc's acquisition of a majority of the share capital in Alcan Inc. Following the acquisition which was carried out by way of amalgamation Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc was renamed Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. [1] [2]
From 1935 to 1945, the use of Aluminum in Alcan's name was being disputed by Alcoa, but a decision by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals ended the legality of the company's name.
Historically, Alcan was one of Canada's most important and powerful companies, and was listed as the sixth "largest" in 1975.[3]
In 1982 the company acquired the British Aluminium Company, renaming the operation British Alcan. In 1999, Alcan made a failed attempt to make a three-way merger between it and Algroup (Alusuisse Lonza Group) of Switzerland and Pechiney of France. The proposed merger was blocked by the European Commission due to fears of anti-competition. After the deal fell through, Alcan acquired Algroup in 2000. Then in 2003, Alcan acquired Pechiney, completing the original three-way merger plan of 1999.
In July 2007, Hindalco Industries announced it is buying the stake of Alcan in the Utkal Alumina Project in Orissa, India marking an exit of Alcan from the project.
On January 20, 2009 Rio Tinto Alcan announced plans to close the Beauharnois smelter and reduce output from the Vaudreuil refinery; both facilities are in Quebec. It is part of a larger plan to reduce aluminum output by a further 6% (following a cut of 5% in late 2008), while cutting 1,100 jobs worldwide. The company will also sell its half-interest in the Chinese Alcan Ningxia joint venture.[4]
Rio Tinto sold assets from Alcan, including Alcan Packaging, in 2009, and Alcan Engineered Products in 2011. Alcan Packaging was acquired by Australian packaging giant Amcor.[5]
After the union's contract expired on December 31, 2011 the company has locked out nearly 800 employees at its smelter plant in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec since midnight of the end of the year. The action was following nearly 3 months of unsuccessful bargaining and the further plant operations will be handled by the staff.[6]
Alcan owns, operates or has an interest in six bauxite mines and deposits, five smelter-grade alumina refineries and six specialty aluminas plants. Its Bauxite & Alumina group refines bauxite ore into smelter-grade alumina for Alcan’s Primary Metal group and external customers and specialty-grade alumina for third parties. It also owns an extensive transportation network, including trucking, rail, marine shipping and port facilities worldwide.
Alcan Primary Metal group includes Alcan’s aluminum smelting facilities and power generation installations, smelting technology and equipment sales, engineering services and aluminum trading operations, anode and cathode production facilities and aluminum fluoride plants.
Alcan owns or has an interest in 22 smelters in 11 countries and regions.
| Location | Annual Capacity (kt) | Ownership (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Boyne Smelters Limited, Queensland, Australia | 556 | 59.39 |
| Bell Bay, Tasmania, Australia | 177 | 100 |
| Tomago, NSW, Australia | 520 | 51.5 |
| Tiwai Point, NZ | 330 | 79.36 |
| Edea, Cameroon (Alucam) | 100 | 46.7 |
| Alma, Quebec | 415 | 100 |
| Arvida, Quebec | 166 | 100 |
| Beauharnois, Quebec | 52 | 100 |
| Becancour, Quebec | 404 | 25 |
| Grande-Baie, Quebec | 207 | 100 |
| Kitimat, British Columbia | 277 | 100 |
| Laterriere, Quebec | 228 | 100 |
| Sept-Îles, Quebec (Alouette) | 572 | 40 |
| Shawinigan, Quebec | 99 | 100 |
| Qingtongxia, China | 152 | 50 |
| Dunkerque, France | 259 | 100 |
| Lannemezan, France | 50 | 100 |
| Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, France | 135 | 100 |
| Hafnarfjörður, Iceland (ISAL) | 179 | 100 |
| Husnes, Norway (SORAL) | 164 | 50 |
| Sohar (Muscat), Oman | 360 | 20 |
| Lochaber, Scotland, UK | 43 | 100 |
| Lynemouth, UK | 178 | 100 |
| Sebree, Kentucky, USA | 196 | 100 |
Alcan is based in Montreal, Quebec and had revenues of US$23.6 billion and 68,000 employees in 61 countries in 2007.
As of March 6, 2007, members of the board of directors of Alcan were: Roland Berger, L. Denis Desautels, Dick Evans, Yves Fortier, Jean-Paul Jacamon, William R. Loomis Jr., Yves Mansion, Christine Morin-Postel, H. Onno Ruding, Guy Saint-Pierre, Gerhard Schulmeyer, Paul M. Tellier, and Milton K. Wong.
It should be noted this was the last board of directors of Alcan prior to its renaming and becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto PLC. Rio Tinto added several Alcan directors to its corporate board in London, including Dick Evans, who is also Chief Executive of Rio Tinto Alcan now.
Alcoa Inc. announced a hostile take over bid for its progeny on May 7, 2007, in a deal worth $27 billion USD. The combined companies would have formed the largest aluminum producer in the world. On May 22, 2007, Alcan's board of directors unanimously recommended that shareholders reject Alcoa’s unsolicited offer to acquire Alcan. The board determined that the offer was inadequate in multiple respects and was contrary to the best interests of Alcan’s shareholders. On July 12, 2007, Alcan announced a friendly takeover deal with Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, worth $38.1 billion USD. Alcan's board of directors unanimously recommended the deal to shareholders. Alcoa withdrew its bid later in the day. On October 25, 2007, the merger was completed and Rio Tinto Alcan (the amalgamation of Alcan and Rio Tinto Aluminum) became the world's largest aluminum company. However, while Rio Tinto won overwhelming shareholder support on October 25, 2007, the acquisition was not formally consummated until November 15, 2007, the date on which the corporate name changed and integration was finally completed.[8][9]
| Book: Aluminium | |
| Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print. | |