CellMark announced yesterday that it has made a binding offer to acquire the Alcan International Network ("AIN") business from Constellium. Constellium is owned by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Rio Tinto and Fonds Stratégique d'Investissement, the French sovereign investment fund.
AIN's worldwide operations specialize mainly in the trading and distribution of products in Chemicals & Minerals and Raw Material & Equipment for the aluminium, steel and foundry industries and semi-fabricated products. AIN recorded approximately $500m of revenues in 2010.
The acquisition of AIN will complement CellMark's existing operations, which consist of four specialized product divisions, each focusing on a basic product category - pulp & recycling and paper & packaging. This acquisition is in line with CellMark's strategy of widening the scope of its activities, as demonstrated by its growing involvement in solid biofuels (woodchips and pellets), interests in starch and other additives, as well as sales of-pre-owned paper mill equipment and machinery.
Constellium will respond to CellMark's binding offer following the completion of information and consultation requirements with the relevant employee representation bodies. Completion of the acquisition, which is expected to occur in December 2011 or early 2012, is subject to various conditions, including regulatory filings in a number of jurisdictions.
Sir Adrian Montague, Chairman of CellMark Investment AB, said:
"The acquisition of AIN would mark an important step in CellMark's development. The technical expertise and strong market connections of AIN would complement our existing operations, and CellMark's access to capital, its cultural values and risk management expertise would offers our new AIN colleagues exciting opportunities to grow and develop AIN's business alongside CellMark's core activities in forest products. The combination of these two businesses would provide a platform to strengthen and develop our supply chain services for both commodities and specialties."
