Rio Tinto has completed the divestment of 61% of Alcan Engineered Products (AEP) to certain investment funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management LLC (Apollo) and the Fonds Stratégique d'Investissement (FSI). The terms of the transaction are confidential.
Apollo is now the majority shareholder in AEP with a 51% stake in a new holding company for AEP, with the FSI holding 10%. Rio Tinto holds a 39% stake.
Guy Elliott, chief financial officer, Rio Tinto, said, "The closing of our majority divestment in AEP marks Rio Tinto's exit of substantially all downstream businesses. Since 2008, we have completed divestments in excess of US$11 billion."
In 2009, Rio Tinto divested the Composites division of the Engineered Products business. The firm maintains its ownership of Alcan Cable.
In 2010, Rio Tinto completed divestments of US$4.2 billion comprising Alcan Packaging Food
Americas, Alcan Packaging global Pharmaceuticals, global Tobacco, Food Europe and Food Asia divisions, Vickery (Coal & Allied), Maules Creek (Coal & Allied), Alcan Beauty Packaging, Alcan Medical Flexibles and Cloud Peak Energy.