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people. Through this acquisition Sapa
strengthens its geographical coverage
and logistical efficiencies to better
serve North America, including an expansion
into Canada. The acquisition
represents an underlying enterprise
value of approx, USD95m.
aFriCa
anglo sells 28% of
south african Hulamin
Mining group Anglo American Plc.
sold 28% of South Africa’s Hulamin
Ltd for 732m rand (USD93m) to focus
on its core mining operations. Anglo,
which is fighting off an unwelcome
merger approach from rival Xstrata,
retained a 17% stake in Hulamin,
which makes semi-fabricated aluminium.
The disposal was in line with Anglo
American’s strategic commitment
to focus on its core mining operations.
Anglo sold 61m shares to Coronation
Asset Management at 12 rand per
ALUMINIUM · 9/2009
share, compared to Hulamin’s price
in Johannesburg of 10.55 rand.
Hulamin posted a sharp drop in
interim profit and said that, although
order intake was recovering, annual
earnings would fall by at least 20%. At
the end of July Anglo sold its remaining
stake in Hulamin, bringing the
transaction to a total of 1.16bn rand
(USD149.4m). Anglo sold its residual
35.8m shares in the aluminium products
company to South African institutions
at the same price of 12 rand
per share as for the first stake.
suppliers
BwG GmbH acquires metal
treatment technology from ViTs
BWG Bergwerk- und Walzwerk-
Maschinenbau GmbH has announced
the acquisition from VITS of technology
for the thermal treatment of metal
strip. BWG has formed a Thermal
Strip Treatment product division to
C o m p a n y n e w s w o r l d w i d e
alro – new annealing furnace put into operation
Alro SA, the largest aluminium producer
in Central and Eastern Europe, has commissioned
its annealing furnace with controlled
atmosphere, following an investment
of three million US-dollars. The new
technology improves the surface quality
of Alro’s aluminium products and the reliability
of its mechanical properties. The
project, which began in 2007, will also
result in lower consumption of energy.
The start-up of the furnace is part of
an investment programme focused on increasing
production of high added value
products, in line with Alro’s long-term
strategic goals. The investment has also
improved quality and allowed the best
response in meeting customer needs regarding
product range and specifications.
The modernisation programme has
enabled Alro to receive the NADCAP (National
Aerospace and Defence Contractor
Accreditation Programme) performance
certification for conformity with aerospace
industry requirements, in 2008. The
certificate was awarded by the NADCAP
Vimetco
Management Council, in accordance with
SAE Aerospace Standard AS 70003, following
the testing of aluminium alloys
produced at Slatina for heat treatment,
conductivity measurement, tensile testing,
hardness and metallographic analysis.
add to its established range of highquality
cost-effective equipment and
services. This technology transfer
allows BGW to better meet the ever
growing challenges and needs of the
steel and aluminium industries.
By adding these products to its existing
portfolio, BWG has broadened
its core competence in the field of
metallurgical strip processing. The
supply of thermal strip treatment
equipment is a logical addition to the
supply of coil coating lines and aluminium
annealing lines, thus enabling
the company to offer integrated technical
solutions. The new division is
fully integrated into BWG at its headquarters
in Duisburg, Germany.
BWG is an internationally active
family-owned company. It delivers
strip treatment lines and coil and
slab handling equipment as well as
carrying out modernisation of existing
process lines and supplying specialist
equipment such as Levelflex tension
levellers, temper mills, side trimmers
and slab deburrers.
■
Over the last seven years, Alro has invested
in total more than 255 million US-dollars.
This year, the company will complete
all investments started in 2008, which are
budgeted to reach approximately six million
US-dollars.
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