Brussels, 03/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 3 October, the European Commission authorised acquisition of control over Canadian aluminium company Alcan by international mining group Rio Tinto (United Kingdom), also active in the aluminium industry.
Both companies operate in the upstream aluminium industry (the mining of bauxite, alumina producing aluminium) but only Alcan is active downstream (some aluminium flat rolled products and engineered aluminium products). In addition, Alcan is also active in the market for the licensing of refining and smelting technology.
The Commission's examination of the planned deal showed that the horizontal overlaps between the activities of Rio Tinto and Alcan in bauxite mining, alumina refining and primary aluminium are limited and that, for all these markets, the new entity would continue to face strong competitors with significant market share. The Commission investigated the impact that the proposed transaction might have on the markets for the licensing of technology, in particular on the alumina refining technology and smelter cell technology, where Alcan offers state-of the-art technologies. Firstly, the new entity would have to comply with the commitments on licensing activities offered by Alcan in the Alcan/Pechiney transaction, previously approved by the Commission subject to conditions. Rio Tinto made a bid of $101 per share, valuing Canada's leading aluminium company at $38.1 bn. (cd)