Shareholders of Romanian alumina producer Alum Tulcea, 99% controlled by aluminium smelter Alro, decided on July 10 to sell its bauxite mines in Sierra Leone after receiving an unsolicited offer from a local investor two months ago.

The offer came from a local investor who showed interest in acquiring Global Aluminium Limited – the local subsidiary of Alum, Economica.net reported.

The company revalued the mines at the end of 2022 when it included an expense from adjustments for impairment of financial assets of RON 129 mln (EUR 26 mln). The fair value, less selling costs of the investment in Global Aluminium Ltd., was estimated at RON 67 mln, at that time, by independent evaluator CMF Consulting. At the end of 2021, the book value of the investment vehicle was RON 196 mln.

The alumina refinery in Tulcea took over Global Aluminium Limited in 2011 from the group’s holding company Vimetco NV, for EUR 30 mln. Global Aluminium specializes in bauxite extraction operations in Sierra Leone.

Vimetco, the owner of Alro and indirectly of Alum, is a vertically integrated global producer of primary and processed aluminium and one of the largest vertically integrated aluminium producers by capacity in Europe. The company is owned by Russian billionaire Vitaly Matsitsky.

The bauxite mine in Sierra Leone has a resource base of approximately 31 mln tonnes of bauxite and produced 910,344 tonnes in 2022 (2021: 1,396,678 tonnes). The mine provides the necessary raw materials for Alum.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Krishnadas Chandrasekharan | Dreamstime.com)