Aluminum Corp of China Ltd said on Thursday it would buy back stakes in four subsidiaries barely one month after selling them to a group of outside investors for a combined 12.6 billion yuan ($1.94 billion).
In a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, the company, known as Chalco, said it had signed a framework agreement to issue shares to the investors to purchase 30.8 percent in Chalco Shandong, 36.9 percent in Zhongzhou Aluminum, 25.67 percent in Baotou Aluminum and 81.14 percent in Chalco Mining.
The investors, which include China Pacific Life Insurance Co Ltd and China Cinda Asset Management, had only acquired those interests via a series of agreements announced by Chalco on Dec. 4 in a bid to reduce company debt.
The move marks the latest step in a complicated restructuring program being undertaken by Chalco that has seen trading in the company’s Shanghai shares suspended since September.
Chalco, the listed arm of China’s biggest state-run aluminium producer, Chinalco, did not put a value on the buybacks. It said it was still negotiating the “price making of the target assets, pricing for issuance of shares and other specific terms”. ($1 = 6.5050 Chinese yuan renminbi)
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