Russian Federation aluminium titan UC Rusal last week took title to German aluminium producer Aluminium Rheinfelden GmbH, saving the firm from insolvency.
The German firm began insolvency proceedings last fall, and began by laying off a fifth of its 256-strong labor force.
Representatives from the two firms signed a purchase agreement last Thursday, but the transaction still awaits a nod from federal authorities.
Restructuring manager Detlef Specovius of the German law firm Schultze & Braun said the match is well made.
“As one of the world’s leading aluminum manufacturers, RUSAL is an ideal partner and investor for Aluminum Rheinfelden. The deal secures the future development of Aluminum Rheinfelden and its qualified workforce.”
Court-appointed trustee Dr. Holger Leichtle continued by pointing out that the sale would allow for a great deal of continuity for Aluminium Rheinfelden.
“Our goal was to find the best solution for the creditors and to preserve the traditional location in Rheinfelden and as many jobs as possible. We have therefore initiated a structured and international search for investors, which was led by the experts from PricewaterhouseCoopers. With today’s signing, we were able to find a solution that is good for Aluminum Rheinfelden, good for the buyer, good for the region and good for the employees.”
“The Aluminum-Rheinfelden Group is a respected manufacturer of high quality alloys, semi-finished products and carbon-based products with strong business relationships with some of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers and leading industrial companies,” explained Roman Andryushin, Sales and Marketing Director at Rusal. “This acquisition therefore offers exciting strategic development opportunities for RUSAL. We want to secure jobs by maintaining the production of aluminum Rheinfelden in Germany and investing more in research and development in order to develop new, state-of-the-art technologies and products. Our long-term strategic goal is to manufacture products with high added value to expand further and offer our customers solutions with recyclable products. “