Noranda Aluminum would be spun off in Minmetals merger

摘要

Metals giant Noranda last week agreed to a "preliminary proposal" from China Minmetals, whereby it would acquire Noranda for an undisclosed price, while a Minmetals spokesman said that if the deal goes through Noranda's North American aluminum assets would be spun off. These include nine primary aluminum plants in the US and Mexico operating under Noranda Aluminum and Norandal USA. The spokesman told Platts that the aluminum assets would become a complete separate public company, with different ownership, as part of a non-cash part of the deal. He said other portions of Noranda holdings might also be spun off, but had no details except to say the copper and zinc units would remain under Minmetals. He could not say why the aluminum unit would not be retained.