Buyers for smelter? Trustee says maybe
Friday, December 12, 2003 7:07 AM PST
By Pat Forgey
Printable version
E-mail this articleIn a surprise move that gives hope to long-unemployed aluminum workers, two potential buyers have emerged for Longview Aluminum, both of which are interested in operating the plant as a smelter.
Bill Brandt, a Chicago-based bankruptcy trustee overseeing the sale of the smelter, declined to say Thursday who the potential buyers are, but said neither Michael Lynch, the company's former owner, nor the big aluminum companies Alcoa, Alcan and Glencore International are among them. Lynch lost control of the plant in August when its creditors persuaded a federal bankruptcy judge to put a trustee in charge.
The new interest in the plant is "good news" for Longview and the aluminum workers, said Gaylan Prescott, staff representative of the United Steelworkers of America in Longview.
"It's the first solid proof that our proposal to delay the demolition of the plant was absolutely warranted," he said Thursday. "It's an avenue we wouldn't have been able to go down if they'd begun to dismantle the place in November."
Brandt said if the buyers think they can operate the smelter, it could be good for Longview, but that a sale still may not be possible.
"The Southwest Washington region needs jobs," he said, but "I don't want to get too excited about it yet."
Brandt said both he and the potential buyers are interested in moving quickly, but upcoming holidays could cause delays.
The interested parties have visited the Longview plant site, and they appear to have the financial capability to both purchase and operate it, Brandt said.
"Both of them appear to have secured substantial financial backing from equity funds," he said. Equity funds are collections of private investment money.
Purchasing the plant would be only part of the expense for anyone wishing to operate it. It would also require substantial investments in purchasing alumina, the raw material from which aluminum is made. Lynch sold off many of the plant's supplies while he owned it.
"Both of these potential bidders, if they want to do this, have the financial equity to do this," Brandt said.
The potential buyers are "in the business of buying heavy industries," he said, adding that they have had some successes in the past at doing that.
Brandt had earlier announced that he was unable to find a buyer for the plant, and that he was preparing to liquidate the plant. Union members and community supporters rallied outside the plant to protest its liquidation and to urge Brandt to let more time pass for the union to find a buyer for the plant. The union also held an around-the-clock vigil outside the plant until a delay in the court proceedings gave the union the time it said it needed.
Prescott said those efforts have paid off.
While Brandt is talking with potential buyers, he has also brought in an environmental consulting firm to prepare a plan for the dismantling the smelter. That company is determining how and in what order equipment should be moved in order to not further contaminate the mill site.
Another avenue for a potential sale appears to be going nowhere, said Brandt. Former owner Alcoa, which sold the plant to Lynch in 2001, appears to have no interest in reacquiring it.
"I think the union has not made a lot of progress with Alcoa," Brandt said. "They've put a lot of effort in, but not made a lot of progress."
Alcoa sold the plant, but retains ownership of the land underneath and responsibility for environmental cleanup of the plant site.
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