LUXFER HOLDINGS PLC and PECHINEY (NYSE:PY) announced today that they had reached an agreement under which Pechiney will acquire the British Aluminium Speciality Extrusions business from Luxfer. The business is located in Workington, Cumbria in England where it manufactures hard alloy aluminium extrusions used for transportation (land and air) and general engineering applications.

The business generated approximately (pound) 28 million in revenue in 2000 (44 million euros) and employs about 280 people. The business operates three extrusion presses (5,000, 2,750 and 1,600 metric tons) with a production capacity of approximately 10,000 tonnes per year.

Philippe Darmayan, Pechiney's Senior Vice President of Aerospace, Transport & Industry, commented "The Workington plant is an excellent acquisition for Pechiney. It will nicely complement our existing hard alloy operations at Montreuil-Juigne and Issoire in France. Both the Pechiney and the Workington operations will benefit from sharing metallurgy and technical expertise. It will also allow us to improve our offer to our customers."
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Ian McKinnon, Chief Executive of Luxfer, commented, "The sale of British Aluminium Speciality Extrusions to Pechiney is the next step in focusing Luxfer on its core activities. It is a logical step following the sale of the bulk of our British Aluminium operations to Alcoa in 2000. The Workington business will benefit from being part of one of the largest aluminium groups in the world."

The completion of the transaction remains subject to the clearance by the competent regulatory authorities.

Pechiney is an international group that is listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges. Its two main sectors are aluminum and packaging. With a presence in 45 countries, Pechiney achieved sales of approximately 10.7 billion euros in 2000 with 31,272 employees.

The Luxfer Group is an international group of businesses that specialize in the design, manufacture and supply of high performance engineering materials, alloys and semi-fabricated components to manufacturing industry worldwide. With turnover of (pound)250 million (394 million euros) it employs 2,350 people in 20 manufacturing plants in the USA, UK, Germany and Australia.