Alcoa Corp. has signed a conditional share purchase agreement with private equity investment firm PARTER Capital Group AG, based in Schindellegi, Switzerland, to sell its Alcoa Avilés and La Coruña aluminum plants in Spain.
The Pittsburgh-headquartered provider of bauxite, alumina, and aluminum products reached an agreement with the workers’ representatives relating to a transaction between the company and PARTER. However, a final acquisition is subject to a buyer-provided credit facility to support future operations. If the acquisition cannot be completed by July 31, 2019, (extended from the original June 30 deadline), the collective dismissal and social plan are expected to go into effect on Aug. 1, 2019.
The plants include the casthouses at both facilities and the paste plant at La Coruña, which are currently in operation, and the two curtailed smelters.
Alcoa reached an agreement in January 2019 with the workers’ representatives at the two aluminum plants as part of the collective dismissal process, which was announced in October 2018. As part of that agreement, the smelters, with combined operating capacity of 124,000 metric tons per year, were curtailed in February and maintained in restart condition, in the event that third parties had interest in acquiring the facilities.
Alcoa expects to record restructuring-related charges in the third quarter of 2019, rather than in the second quarter of 2019, estimated to range from $100 million to $140 million (pre- and after-tax), or $0.54 to $0.75 per share, depending on whether an acquisition or collective dismissal occurs. Related cash outlays are expected to be approximately $100 million to $130 million, with approximately half to be paid in 2019.
