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China aluminum mill priority for Novelis: Martens

February 11, 2012 - 00:06 GMT Location: New York

KEYWORDS: aluminum , Novelis , Philip Martens , rolling mill , automotive , aerospace , aluminum sheet , can sheet

Flat-rolled aluminum major Novelis Inc. continues to evaluate how best to enter the Chinese market, with either the construction of a new mill or the acquisition of an existing asset a possibility, the company’s top executive said.

Novelis already serves the growing Asian market from its South Korean mills and recently opened a sales office in Shanghai, China, but the longer-term plan is to have a production facility in China, Martens said, noting that Novelis’ options include a greenfield build or an acquisition—as long as it’s the right acquisition.

"We’ll never rule out an acquisition, but we’re also conscious of the fact that Novelis has a clean manufacturing asset structure. If we were to do an acquisition, it would have to fit in without a lot of restructuring," he said.

Martens estimated that there are some 150 aluminum rolling mills in China, but he said that more than...

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