China’s state-owned aluminium giant Chalco and Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto have agreed to buy a controlling stake in Brazil’s Companhia Brasileira de Aluminio (CBA) in a deal valued at US$886 million, marking one of the most significant foreign acquisitions in Brazil’s metals sector in recent years and reinforcing China’s growing footprint in the country’s strategic mineral assets.The transaction covers Brazilian conglomerate Grupo Votorantim’s 68.6 per cent stake in CBA and will be executed through a joint venture incorporated in Brazil, in which Chalco will hold 67 per cent and Rio Tinto the remaining 33 per cent, according to the companies’ statements.For Chalco, one of the world’s largest integrated aluminium producers, the acquisition of CBA provides a platform in South America with access to renewable power and established operations across the aluminium value chain.

“This acquisition in partnership with Chalco … is aligned with our strategy to deliver value for shareholders by extending our low-carbon, renewable-powered aluminium footprint in rapidly growing markets,” Rio Tinto’s CEO Jerome Pecresse added in a statement.

“It also provides the opportunity to grow our bauxite and alumina supply chain in the Atlantic region.”

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Founded in 1941 and long regarded as a flagship industrial asset within the Votorantim group, CBA is Brazil’s only fully integrated aluminium producer, with operations spanning bauxite mining, alumina refining, primary aluminium smelting and the manufacture of value-added products.