Alumina unlikely to bid for Rio's Pacific Aluminium

Feb 21 (Reuters) - Australia's Alumina Ltd on Thursday said it was unlikely to bid for Rio Tinto's Pacific Aluminium business, but did not rule out that its new Chinese shareholder, state-owned CITIC Group, might be interested.

"I don't believe that the intention of them (CITIC) coming on to our register has anything to do with whatever their position might be on Pacific Aluminium," Alumina Chief Executive John Bevan told reporters.

"Our focus has been on the bauxite and alumina as our key focus of development, so it's unlikely that we would participate in the Pacific Aluminium," he said, adding that having CITIC as a partner could open up options down the track for looking at other acquisitions together, but there was nothing planned at the moment.