Hindalco Completes $2.8-Billion Buyout Of Aleris
This consists of $775 million for equity value, about $2 billion for Aleris’ outstanding debt and $50-million earn-out payment.
Nearly two years after Hindalco Industries Ltd. signed a deal to buy Aleris Corp., the billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s company finally completed the takeover through its wholly owned subsidiary.
Novelis Corp. acquired the global aluminium supplier for an enterprise value of $2.8 billion—higher than the $2.58-billion guided earlier, according to an exchange filing. This consists of $775 million for the equity value, about $2 billion for Aleris’ current outstanding debt and a $50-million earn-out payment.
Legacy Aleris debt levels have increased since the initial acquisition announcement due to rise in working capital to support the ramp up of operations, while the earn-out is related to stronger than expected performance by Aleris’ U.S. business, the filing said.
Hindalco faced several regulatory hurdles to complete its acquisition of Aleris. The Justice Department in September filed a civil antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the purchase, citing the need to preserve competition in the North American market for rolled aluminum sheet used in automotive applications. The lawsuit alleged that the transaction, if allowed to proceed, would enable Novelis to lock up 60 percent of projected total U.S. automotive body sheet capacity, allowing the company to raise prices, reduce innovation and choice for consumers. The company will now have to divest its Lewisport plant in the U.S. as it lost the binding arbitrage with the antitrust division.
The Aleris-Novelis deal also faced antitrust objections in the European Commission earlier last year. But in April, Hindalco secured a final approval after the sale of its Duffel plant in Belgium to Liberty House Group.
“The closure of this deal amid challenging market conditions reflects our conviction in the Aleris business and its value to our metals portfolio,” Birla said in the filing. “The deal, crucially enables the further diversification of our metals downstream portfolio, into other premium market segments, most notably aerospace.”
Still, Vishal Chandok, research analyst at Emkay Global, sounded a bit cautious. “The acquisition, though good in the long run, comes at a wrong time,” he told BloombergQuint. “This comes at a time the world is staring at a recession, and lucrative high-margin automotive facilities of both Duffel and Lewisport are out of the deal.”
World’s miners are forced to curtail or halt production and processing as governments impose emergency measures to combat spreading of the coronavirus. Unprecedented disruptions to operations and supply chains are threatening the outlook for metals, just as demand is hit by concerns about a global recession.
Other Details Of Deal
- On a trailing 12-month basis ended Dec. 31, 2019, legacy standalone adjusted Ebitda of Aleris stood at $388 million, higher than that estimated at the time of deal announcement in July 2018.
- The acquisition will generate about $150 million in synergies and create a strong financial profile.
- Combined net debt to adjusted Ebitda of 3.3 times is within the recently updated guidance of less than 3.5 times and 4 times at the time of deal announcement.