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https://scmp.com/business/money/stock-talk/article/2111038/aluminium-giant-zhongwang-buys-germanys-alunna-springboard Stock Talk
Aluminium giant Zhongwang buys Germany’s Alunna as springboard into Europe
Alunna boasts a heavyweight list of clients including Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Mercedes-Benz and BMW
China Zhongwang Holdings, the world’s second largest aluminium extruder, is to buy Germany’s Aluminiumwerk Unna, in its first international acquisition. Photo: Bloomberg
China Zhongwang Holdings, the world’s second largest aluminium extruder, is to buy a controlling 99.72 per cent stake in Germany’s Aluminiumwerk Unna, in its first international acquisition.
The purchase is being made through a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhongwang, Zhongwang Aluminium Deutschland, and will strengthen the Chinese company’s foothold in the international aviation sector and its further expand into Europe, officials said.
Aluminiumwerk Unna, better known in the industry as Alunna, is a well-established aluminium extrusion maker based in German town of Unna, that provides high-end extrusion products, mainly seamless tubes.
It boasts a heavyweight list of clients including Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
“The transaction will substantially enhance China Zhongwang’s production capability in seamless extruded aluminium tubes for further optimising our product mix,” said Lu Changqing, Zhongwang’s president and executive director.
“With Alunna’s product quality credentials and experience in customer development, the acquisition will expedite the Group’s business expansion into, among others, aviation and automobile industries.”
Shares in Zhongwang fell 2.2 per cent to HK$4.02 (US51 cents) on Wednesday, their biggest drop since August 28.
Zhongwang’s interim profit fell 8 per cent to 1.26 trillion yuan (HK$1.51 trillion) for the six months ended June 30. Its earnings per share were 0.15 yuan, down from 0.19 yuan in the same period last year. It paid an interim dividend of HK10 cents per share compared with HK11 cents in the same period last year.
Zhongwang has sales offices in Germany and Japan to support overseas sales. It is currently developing an aluminium flat-rolling project, which will be able to produce higher value products, with two production lines under construction with annual production capacity of 1.8 million tonnes.
Once complete, the project will become the world’s largest flat-rolling production base, Zhongwang said.