Corica purchases 32% of Aluminium of Kazakhstan, it will build plant for $850 m

/REUTERS, Almaty, April 16, 03/ - The committee on state property management and privatization of the Ministry of finance informed on Wednesday that from the fourth attempt Kazakhstan had sold state block of the only alumina producer in Central Asia - Aluminium of Kazakhstan - to Swiss Corica AG, which was ready to build the country's first aluminum smelter. Corica, part of Swiss group J&W Holding, would pay 3.191 billion tenge ($21 million) for the 31.76 percent stake, whereas the starting price was KZT3.110 bn. Under the terms of the tender, Corica would have to build the Central Asian state's first aluminium smelter, with an annual capacity of 240,000 tonnes a year. Property rights for the state block will be given to the winner in case of introduction of the first turn of the enterprise with the capacity 60,000 tons a year by December 31 of 2007. Besides Corica, Wolf International S.A participated in the tender, one of the terms of which was purchasing of alumina and electricity from Kazakhstan producers for full loading of the plant. "Tender commission recognized Corica AG,.as the winner, its investment program on organization of aluminum production in Kazakhstan... profitably differs from offers of Wolf, both by economic indexes and by the level of documentation preparation as well ", - the message of CSPP of the Ministry of finance says. It says that Corica estimated the construction of the smelter, to be built in Kazakhstan's northern industrial heartland of Pavlodar, would cost $850 million.. Kazakhstan authorities, which strive for foundation of new productions and step away from raw stuff direction of economics, called building of the electrolysis plant one of the major purposes of industrial policy. In June of 1997 the country's oresident Nursultan Nazarbayev by himself put capsule with the message for future generations into the fundament of the enterprise, which has not appeared yet. Kazakhstan Government unsuccessfully tried to sell state block of Aluminium of Kazakhstan for three times - in January of 2003, March and October of last year. Aluminium of Kazakhstan is a part of Eurasian industrial association. The company's production in mainly exported to Russia's aluminum plants. This year the enterprise intends to increase production up to 1.4 m. tons of alumina from 1.2 m. tons one year before. The Group, in which Corica AG is, according to the data of the Ministry of finance of Kazakhstan, occupies itself in mining and ore, metallurgical, oil and oil refining branches of industry in Zambia, Congo, Libya, China, in Ukraine and in Russia, and also has experience of joint with Eurasian industrial association activity. [2003-04-16]