Alcoa Inc. recently announced that Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals has completed the sale of Alcoa Specialty Chemicals.

Alcoa Inc. recently announced that Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals (AWAC), a global alliance between Alumina Limited (40%) and Alcoa (60%), has completed the sale of Alcoa Specialty Chemicals to two private equity firms led by Rhone Capital LLC for approximately $342 million, which includes the assumption of debt and other unfunded obligations. This sale is part of the divestiture program announced by Alcoa in January 2003.

Under the new ownership, the business has been renamed Almatis. "Our products, our people, and our production facilities remain the same," said Gangolf Kriechbaum, Ph.D., chief commercial officer. "Almatis continues as the high-quality global supplier of alumina materials, with no changes to our alumina feed and a long-term supply contract from Alcoa. Almatis remains focused on satisfying our highly valued customers around the world with quality alumina products."

The company's website is located at http://www.almatis.com.