Aditya Birla Group company Novelis is looking to conclude sale of its three aluminium foil manufacturing plants in France, Luxembourg and Germany to American Industrial Acquisition Corp (AIAC) by June this year.

“The company hopes to conclude the sale of plants by June as they are not aligned with Novelis growth strategy,” a senior company official said.

Novelis, a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group flagship firm Hindalco Industries, yesterday announced plans to sell its three plants in Europe to AIAC for an undisclosed sum.

The official, however, refused to comment on the amount the company is looking at from the sale of the well-established foil operations.

The foil plant at Rugles, France comprise two continuous casters and two foil rolling mills (2000mm and 1500mm wide) for supply of high quality foil to customers in a range of sectors, including packaging, household foil, heat transfer and industrial applications.

The Luxembourg plant at Dudelange has four continuous casters and the 1625mm wide rolling mill. The facility at Berlin in Germany serves as Europe’s largest producer of innerbundling products, offering a range of products to the global tobacco players.

Announcing the sale plans, President and CEO of Novelis Mr Philip Martens had said that the plants will have a better future with AIAC as “Novelis is focussed on growing the higher-volume, premium markets of beverage cans, automobiles and specialty products.”

The combined employee population of the foil plants included in the transaction is approximately 850 and following the asset sale, Novelis’ total European employee headcount will be approximately 4,400.

Novelis is the global leader in aluminium rolled products and aluminium can recycling. It operates in 11 countries, having a revenue of $ 10.6 billion in the last fiscal.

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