Alcoa To Shut Down Portovesme Aluminum Smelter In Italy

Alcoa (AA: Quote) plans to permanently close its Portovesme primary aluminum smelter in Italy, which has been curtailed since November 2012. This shut down would reduce Alcoa's global smelting capacity by 150,000 metric tons to 3.6 million metric tons per annum.

The Portovesme smelter was curtailed in 2012 as it was one of the highest cost smelters in the Alcoa system and had limited prospects for becoming competitive, according to the company.

"The fundamental reasons that made the Portovesme smelter uncompetitive unfortunately have not changed," said Bob Wilt, President, Alcoa Global Primary Products. "We will continue to meet the commitments made to our employees and our stakeholders, acting in good faith as we have always done," he added.

Alcoa has provided financial social support, together with outplacement and re-employment services for employees. The closure is aligned with Alcoa's strategy to create a globally competitive commodity business and lower its position on the world aluminum production cost curve to the 38th percentile by 2016.

As a result of the closure, total restructuring-related charges for the third quarter 2014 are projected to be between $170 million and $180 million after-tax, or between $0.14 and $0.15 per share, of which around 60 percent is non-cash.

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