H.I.G. Capital has completed the purchase of the specialty alumina business of a global mining company, Rio Tinto. The acquired entity will be renamed as ALTEO with retrospective effect from August 1, 2012.
ALTEO is a prominent manufacturer and supplier of specialty alumina of non-metallurgical grade. The company reported a turnover of approximately €300 million. ALTEO runs commercial operations in the United Kingdom, China, Japan and United States. The company operates four industrial sites of which the three La Bâthie, Gardanne and Beyrède are in France and one in Germany, namely, Teutschenthal. The Gardanne site in France is the headquarters of ALTEO.
In recent years, ALTEO has been subject to numerous challenges and has implemented significant changes, especially by way of addition of high value products. H.I.G. aims to foster business development by working in conjunction with the management team at ALTEO and by leveraging its resources. Olivier Boyadjian, Managing Director of H.I.G. Capital in France expressed pride in the acquisition and stated that the transaction is aligned with the company’s strategy to support the development of small medium enterprises (SMEs). According to Olivier, ALTEO’s research and development capabilities, industrial expertise and unparalleled array of products will facilitate the execution of ALTEO’s intended market penetration strategy. Frédéric Ramé, General Manager at ALTEO said that the company shared a common goal with H.I.G. to implement sustainable worldwide development efforts to strengthen ALTEO’s global market position and also stated that H.I.G.’s acquisition of ALTEO is completely within the scope of the growth project initiated by ALTEO.