Rio Tinto Alcan

"ALCAN" redirects here. For the ALCAN Highway, see Alaska Highway.

Rio Tinto Alcan Inc.

Company type	Subsidiary of Rio Tinto PLC (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	$1.786 billion USD (2006)
Number of employees	68,000 (including joint-ventures)
Website	http://www.riotinto.com/riotintoalcan/

Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. became the world's largest Aluminium company when Rio Tinto PLC's Canadian subsidiary, Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc., completed a friendly acquisition of Canadian company Alcan Inc. on November 15, 2007. On this date, Alcan Inc. was renamed Rio Tinto Alcan Inc..

Alcan Inc., at the time of the takeover, had been the world's third largest aluminium producer, behind its one time parent Alcoa (from which it split in 1928) and Rusal. The 2007 deal that created Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. followed a failed hostile takeover bid for Alcan by Alcoa.

History

Founded in 1902 as the Canadian unit of Alcoa, it was spun off in 1928.

Alcan has gone through several name changes:

• Northern Aluminum Company Limited - 1902
• Aluminum Company of Canada Limited - 1925
• registers the name Alcan - 1945
• added French name Aluminium du Canada, Limitée - 1965
• introduce the use of the name Alcan Aluminium Limited in English and Alcan Aluminium Limitée 1966; later used as the official name of the parent company in 1987
• Alcan Inc. - 2001
• Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. - 2008 (current company name)

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.

The logo of Alcan before the Rio Tinto takeover.

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.

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.

Product groups

Bauxite and alumina

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.

Primary metal

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.

Alcan smelters

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	N/A	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.

Corporate governance

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.

Takeover

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. Rio Tinto Alcan is based in Montreal and retains Alcan's CEO, Dick Evans. 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.

See also

• British Alcan
• List of alumina refineries
• List of aluminium smelters
• Aluminium smelting
• Kemano, British Columbia, Canada
• Nechako Reservoir

External links

• Rio Tinto Alcan website
• Alcan website
• Rio Tinto website
• Alcan is named Americas Most Admired Metals Company by Fortune
• L’impact de la perte de contrôle d’une entreprise florissante la prise de contrôle d’Alcan par Rio Tinto
• continuity agreement between Alcan and Gouvernement of Québec 2006