RUSAL agrees to buy 30% in China’s HWNM for $267 mln

MOSCOW, Oct 24 (PRIME) -- Russian aluminum giant UC RUSAL has agreed to acquire a 30% stake in Chinese alumina plant Hebei Wenfeng New Materials (HWNM) for U.S. $266.9 million, the Russian company said in a statement published on the Hong Kong Exchange on Tuesday.

“On 23 October 2023, the purchaser (RUSAL) entered into the agreement with the vendor, pursuant to which the vendor agreed to sell and the purchaser agreed to acquire the acquired interest, which represents 30% of the entire equity interest of HWNM, for a consideration of 1.911 billion Chinese yuan,” the statement read.

The deal’s price could be adjusted depending on the working capital and debt as of the closing date, but it should not exceed 2.5 billion Chinese yuan or $349.162 million. The deal is subject to approval of the Chinese authorities, corporate procedures, and agreement of the creditors of HWNM.

HWNM operates an alumina refinery in the Hebei Province of China with an annual capacity of 4.8 million tonnes of alumina. Under the deal, HWNM and RUSAL will share the produced alumina in proportion to their shareholder equity.

“The partnership with Wenfeng will not only ensure RUSAL’s access to a stable source of alumina at beneficial prices, it will ensure the access to the world’s best technologies and practices of alumina production and protection of the environment. It will help the company in implementation of the previously announced plans for construction of a new alumina plant in the Leningrad Region,” a RUSAL representative said commenting on the deal.

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