Bankrupt US aluminum producer Noranda Aluminum has revised the court-supervised auction schedule for the potential sale of its downstream flat-rolled products business, the Franklin, Tennessee-based company said in a filing at the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Noranda canceled a formal bidding process that had been set for June 2, rescheduling it for 10 am EDT June 29.
Prospective bidders have until 5 pm EDT June 24 to notify the court they intend to participate in the auction. A sale hearing would be held at 10 am EDT July 14 in the St. Louis courtroom.
Noranda spokesman John Parker said Thursday in an email that the company decided to push back the auction schedule "in consultation with other credit constituencies ... to maximize value to the estate." He declined further comment, including whether Noranda anticipates receiving multiple offers for its aluminum rolling mills.
The company is proposing to sell rolling mills that its Norandal USA subsidiary operates in Huntingdon, Tennessee; Newport, Arkansas; and Salisbury, North Carolina, as well as any assets, facilities, real property, personal property, plants, equipment, inventory and accounts receivable associated with the mills.
Together, the three mills have total capacity of about 495 million lbs/year, according to Noranda. Huntingdon, with capacity at about 367 million lbs/year, is the largest.
Noranda filed February 8 for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization after it complained for months about being in a "liquidity crisis" worsened by low global aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange.
The company expects to use revenue from the Norandal USA sale to bolster its bottom line and repay creditors.
In mid-March, Noranda idled its 263,000 mt/year New Madrid primary aluminum smelter in southeastern Missouri, in part citing the plant's high power costs.
Noranda and Ameren Missouri, the smelter's longtime power supplier, supported comprehensive energy legislation (H.B. 2369) in the Missouri General Assembly that would have addressed the power costs, but lawmakers adjourned their 2016 session in Jefferson County mid-May without taking final action on the bill. The smelter is not expected to restart this year as a result.
