Swiss aluminum company in talks on world’s largest concern

(AP) -- Switzerland's biggest aluminum company, Alusuisse-Lonza (Algroup), said Tuesday it was in merger talks with two competitors in plans to form the world's largest aluminum concern.

(AP) — Switzerland’s biggest aluminum company, Alusuisse-Lonza (Algroup), said Tuesday it was in merger talks with two competitors in plans to form the world’s largest aluminum concern.

Algroup said it was in “advanced discussions” with Alcan Aluminum of Canada and the French company Pechiney.

The statement from Algroup said it was not certain the talks would result in an agreement and declined to give any further information.

In a separate statement, Pechiney also confirmed that it was in talks with the other two over “a possible merger of their operations.”

“At this stage it’s impossible to say if these discussions will lead to an agreement,” Pechiney said.

Last November Alusuisse announced it was discussing a possible merger with the German industrial concern Viag, but the talks came to an acrimonious end in March following a disagreement over a share swap arrangement.

Montreal-based Alcan is the world’s second largest producer of aluminum. It recorded sales of $7.8 billion last year.

Pechiney, based in Paris, is the world’s number four and had sales of $10.9 billion in 1998.

Algroup, which nearly went broke in the 1980s after a series of disastrous forays into the United States, recorded sales of SFr9.6 billion ($6.4 billion) in 1998.

The three companies combined would have a workforce of more than 100,000 and would overtake the U.S. aluminum giant Alcoa.