Hindalco clears last hurdle for Novelis buy

MUMBAI: The final step for acquiring Novelis has been completed. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Tuesday approved Hindalco Industries’ acquisition of Novelis, making the Atlanta-based company now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hindalco. The acquisition also makes the Aditya Birla group company, one of the world’s top five integrated aluminium players with a total revenue of about $14 billion; the group has a combined revenue of about $28 billion.

“Hindalco and Novelis have received shareholder and court approval and all required regulatory consents,” said a group spokesperson. Shares of Hindalco’s ended down 0.9% at Rs 145.20 on the BSE on Tuesday.

Late last week, about 99.8% of Novelis’ shareholders had approved the acquisition at a special meeting. Under the terms of the transaction, Hindalco, through a subsidiary AV Metals, will acquire Novelis at $44.93 for every share, totalling the acquisition at $6 billion.

International reports added that Hindalco, through its wholly-owned subsidiary AV Metals, acquired 75,415,536 common shares of Novelis, representing 100% of the issued and outstanding common shares. Immediately after closing, AV Metals transferred the common shares of Novelis to its wholly-owned subsidiary AV Aluminum. Novelis’ stock has ceased trading on the New York Stock Exchange. “De-listing on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange is expected to occur shortly,” said the report.