OREANDA-NEWS. RUSAL, a top three global aluminium producer, has today announced it has closed the deal to acquire a majority stake in the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in Akwa Ibom from the Nigerian Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). The transaction will add almost 150,000 tonnes annually to RUSAL’s aluminium production capacity.

The official handover ceremony occurred today in the town of Ikot Abasi in Nigeria in the presence of Victor Attah, Governor of the State of Akwa Ibom, Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterpises of Nigeria Irene Chigbue and RUSAL Director for Special and International Projects Alexander Livshitz.

According to the terms of the deal, RUSAL has received a 77,5% block of shares in ALSCON, a 193,000-tonne smelter (reduction, anode-producing and casthouse areas), a port on the Imo River and a power-generating station. Germany’s Ferrostaal AG and the Government of Nigeria remain minority shareholders with 7,5% and 15% blocks respectively. The terms of the deal include the dredging of the Imo River necessary to create the transport infrastructure. RUSAL plans to invest an additional $150 million over the next three years to complete, refurbish and modernise ALSCON. The purchase is partly funded through a $60 million loan that can be increased up to $130 million. The loan was secured by RUSAL in 2007. The smelter should go online by the end of this year.

In West Africa RUSAL already operates the bauxite mining complex Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia and Frigiua Bauxite and Alumina Complex in Guinea. The addition of ALSCON completes RUSAL’s output cycle in West Africa, allowing it to boost production efficiency. Aluminium fabricated at ALSCON will be sold to RUSAL’s current and potential clients