- Made famous by its discharges of “red mud” at sea, Alteo was officially bought on Thursday by a Guinean consortium.
- This redemption results in the deletion of 98 jobs at the leader of alumina.
- This buyer is indeed stopping the import of bauxite, a historical but controversial activity of the site.
The the Commercial Court from Marseille on Thursday confided to the logistics group located in Guinea United Mining Supply (UMS), the only one in the running, the future of the Alteo plant, world leader in specialty alumina based in Bouches-du-Rhône.
The only candidate still interested in the company during of the last hearing on December 8, UMS had filed a continuation plan for the Gardanne plant, placed in receivership more than a year ago following a drop in orders and a market crisis world of aluminum. “The financial support of the company UMSI in its capacity as a new shareholder of SAS Alteo Holding should allow SAS Alteo Gardanne to generate sufficient cash flow to enable it to meet the commitments provided for in the action plan ”, writes the court in its decision. It would only import raw powder from alumina that he would refine on site, thus avoiding having to store bauxite residues, pointed out by residents and environmentalists. In a leaflet distributed on the site to employees and sent to 20 Minutes Stop importing bauxite
In its offer, UMS, property of the Franco-Lebanese-Guinean businessman Fadi Wazni, plans to take over part of Alteo’s debt, and, at the end of a transition of 12 at 18 months, the end of the importation of bauxite , raw material used for the manufacture of alumina used in the composition of smartphone screens and also used in the automotive industry. A hundred jobs cut
This change would lead to the deletion of 98 jobs on 400, trying to get as close as possible to zero, mainly focused on the processing of bauxite . The factory also generates more than 190 indirect jobs, which makes it one of the biggest employers in the Aix-en-Provence area.