Apr 22 2004
Kaiser Aluminum announced that RUSAL was the successful bidder for Kaiser’s interests in and related to Alpart, a partnership that owns bauxite mining operations and an alumina refinery in Jamaica, with an offer providing a base purchase price of $295 million prior to certain adjustments.
Kaiser made the determination in consultation with the Unsecured Creditors Committee and others at the conclusion of yesterday’s auction, which had been ordered by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
Kaiser’s agreement to sell its interests in Alpart is subject to the conditions cited below. Kaiser expects the Court to rule on the agreement on April 26. The company has targeted a closing date on the transaction near the end of the second quarter of 2004.
As previously disclosed, under Alpart’s existing partnership arrangement, Hydro Aluminium a.s., which currently owns the remaining 35% of Alpart, retains the right - for 30 days following Kaiser’s receipt of Court approval of any sale transaction - to elect to purchase Kaiser’s interests at the price specified in any agreement approved by the Court.
As discussed more fully in its Form 10-K for 2003, Kaiser is working with the lenders under its Post-Petition Credit Agreement to obtain an amendment to the Credit Agreement that, among other things, would permit the sale of the company’s interests in and related to Alpart.
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