Aurubis to sell part of rolled products business to KME

HAMBURG (Reuters) - Aurubis AG, Europe's biggest copper producer, said on Thursday it had signed an agreement to sell some of its flat rolled products (FRP) division to KME, part of Italy’s Intek Group S.p.A..

An initial agreement for the sale was signed in August 2021.

Aurubis gave no value for the deal. Intek said separately the purchase price was expected to be around 8 million euros ($9 million) plus the value of the net working capital of the assets at closing date, calculated in June 2021 at 67 million euros.

KME will take over Aurubis' FRP plants in Zutphen in the Netherlands, plus slitting/cutting centres in Birmingham in Britain, Dolny Kubin in Slovakia, and Mortara in Italy, with a total turnover of about 280 million euros and about 360 employees, Intek said.

The transaction does not include other Aurubis FRP plants in Buffalo in the United States, Stolberg in Germany and Pori in Finland.

The deal is expected to close in summer 2022 following approval by national competition authorities, Aurubis said.

European Union competition authorities had in February 2019 vetoed a plan by Aurubis to sell the FRP business to Germany's Wieland-Werke AG, saying the move could have pushed up consumer prices.

Aurubis then said it would seek alternative buyers for an asset it does not consider part of its core business.

Intek said the deal was part of KME's drive to focus on copper and copper alloy rolled products, while boosting manufacturing know‐how and its product portfolio to improve operational efficiencies.

($1 = 0.8804 euros)

(Reporting by Paul Carrel and Michael Hogan; Editing by Mark Potter)