Alcoa to Sell Washington Smelter to Michigan Avenue Partners

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Pittsburgh, Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Alcoa Inc., the world's biggest aluminum
maker, agreed to sell an aluminum smelter in Longview, Washington to closely held Michigan Avenue Partners, a Chicago-based investment group.

Alcoa, which sold the whole smelter operation, was only required to sell a 25
percent stake in Longview as a condition of its $5.75 billion acquisition in
May of Reynolds Metals Co. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed.

Antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Europe approved the merger on condition
that Alcoa sell a share of its Longview smelter, a 56 percent interest in the
Worsley alumina refinery in Australia, a refinery in Sherwin, Texas and a 50
percent stake in a German refinery. Alumina is the key ingredient for
aluminum. The Longview smelter produces 204,000 metric tons of aluminum a
year.

The refinery assets are being sold to ease concern that the combined
companies would control too much of the world market for alumina. The sale of
Longview is expected to close by the end of the first quarter 2001, pending
financing and regulatory approvals, Alcoa said.

Michigan Avenue Partners owns McCook Metals LLC, North America's second largest maker of aluminum-plate, which is used in military aircraft. McCook
competes with Alcoa in the sale of aluminum plate. The closely held company
had opposed Alcoa's purchase of Reynolds saying the union was anticompetitive and urged that Alcoa sell the whole of its stake in Longview.

Shares of Alcoa, based in Pittsburgh, fell 28 cents to $34.19. They've fallen
18 percent this year.

Dec/27/2000 16:55 ET