TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – To prepare for the spinning-out of its upstream and downstream business segments later this year, lightweight alloys specialist Alcoa is appointing three new directors, expanding the existing board to 15.
Effective from Friday, Ulrich ‘Rick’ Schmidt, John Plant and Sean Mahoney would serve on the board, bringing with them valuable aerospace and automotive experience as the company proceeded to implement fundamental changes to its business structure, Alcoa advised.
The company noted that it had reached an agreement with activist shareholder Elliot Management, which owned a 7.5% stake in the company, providing that Elliott would support the company’s slate of director nominees at Alcoa’s 2016 annual general meeting.
Mahoney would be added to the class of directors whose term expires in 2016, while Schmidt and Plant would be added to the class of directors whose terms expire in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Alcoa planned to separate into two publicly traded companies in the second half of 2016.
The upstream company would comprise five business units constituting global primary products: bauxite, alumina, aluminium, cast products and energy; the innovation and technology-driven value-add company would include the global rolled products, engineered products and solutions, as well as the transportation and construction solutions businesses.
As the company prepared to implement the separation, the board would work closely with Alcoa’s management team in a comprehensive review of its portfolio, operations, profitability drivers and cost structure.