Finance Association, September 18 (Editor Li Lin/Intern Editor Chen Yujia) Saudi Mining Company (Ma'aden) announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire 20.62% of Bahrain Aluminum (Alba) shares held by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC). The deal is expected to bring SABIC revenue of 3.62 billion to 3.97 billion riyals (approximately 0.96 billion to 1.06 billion US dollars).

Just a day before announcing the acquisition of Alba shares held by Sabic, Ma'aden also signed a non-binding agreement with Alba to explore the possibility of jointly forming a global aluminum producer, and plans to integrate Ma'aden's aluminum business with ALBA.

Ma'aden said that the latest agreements recently reached with Alcoa (Alcoa), ALBA and SaBic have not only boosted its ambitious growth strategy, but also opened up new development opportunities for it. Ma'aden plans to expand tenfold by 2040, with the aluminum business being the core driver of this strategy.

However, the completion of the acquisition is subject to approval from the relevant Saudi and Bahraini regulators.

According to the company's press release, Ma'aden and Bahrain Aluminum also agreed to explore the possibility of cross-listing on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

Alcoa stock exchange led to the integration of Saudi mining and Bahrain aluminum

Before Ma'aden's aluminum business is integrated with ALBA, it is also necessary to resolve the issue of minority shareholders' withdrawal from Ma'aden's aluminum business in order to simplify the process and achieve the goal of asset integration.

Ma'aden earlier revealed its new partnership plans with long-time partner Alcoa (Alcoa). The two parties will integrate the aluminum business through a share purchase and subscription agreement, and ALCOA's shares in Ma'aden Aluminum Company and Ma'aden Bauxite and Alumina Company will be converted into Ma'aden shares. As part of the deal, Ma'aden plans to sell shares in two aluminum business units to Alba in exchange for Alba's share capital.

Once the deal is completed, Ma'aden will have full ownership and full operational and management control of the two aluminum business units. In exchange, Alcoa will receive $0.15 billion in cash and own approximately 2.21% of Ma'aden's share capital after the transaction.

Ma'aden is the largest diversified mining company in the Middle East. It operates 17 mines and factories, and exports its products to more than 30 countries around the world. Alba, on the other hand, is the world's largest aluminum smelter outside of China, with an annual output of over 1.62 million tons.

SABIC is the world's leading manufacturer of petrochemical products, and is also one of the largest listed companies by market capitalization in the Middle East. 70% of its shares are held by Saudi Aramco.