BP sells Arco Aluminum to Japanese consortium

Based in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, Arco Aluminum produces and markets aluminium sheet for the major US domestic beverage can makers.

The company also owns an approximate 45 per cent interest in the aggregate assets of a joint venture aluminium rolling mill in Logan County, Kentucky — the largest and lowest-cost producer of aluminium can sheet in North America.

Under the terms of the agreement the consortium — comprised of Sumitomo Light Metal Industries (40 per cent), Furukawa Sky Aluminum (35 per cent), Sumitomo Corporation (20 per cent), Itochu Corporation (two per cent) and Itochu Metals Corporation (three per cent) — will pay BP $680m in cash, subject to closing adjustments.

Subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals, the parties expect to complete the transaction in the third quarter of 2011.

BP remains on track to meet its target of achieving up to $30bn of divestments by the end of 2011. Including ARCO Aluminum, BP has now entered into agreements for divestments with a total value of more than $24bn.