In February 2018, Hydro made a binding offer to acquire Rio Tinto’s Icelandic aluminium plant Rio Tinto Iceland Ltd (“ISAL”), its 53% share in Dutch anode facility Aluminium & Chemie Rotterdam B.V. (“Aluchemie”), and 50% of the shares in Swedish aluminium fluoride plant Alufluor AB (“Alufluor”) for an enterprise value of USD 345 million.

A Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) was signed on 8 June 2018, following successful consultations with Rio Tinto employees in France and the Netherlands.

The transaction remained subject to a number of conditions, including approval by competition authorities, Icelandic governmental authorities and commercial parties. The transaction was initially expected to be finalized in the second quarter of 2018.

The European Commission (EC) competition approval process has taken longer than anticipated and remains outstanding. After considering alternative timelines, outcomes and developments, Hydro requested to terminate the transaction and the parties have signed a termination agreement. Hydro has withdrawn its EC competition filing. 

Hydro will continue to own 46.7 percent in Aluchemie.

Cautionary note 

Certain statements included in this announcement contain forward-looking information, including, without limitation, information relating to (a) forecasts, projections and estimates, (b) statements of Hydro management concerning plans, objectives and strategies, such as planned expansions, investments, divestments, curtailments or other projects, (c) targeted production volumes and costs, capacities or rates, start-up costs, cost reductions and profit objectives, (d) various expectations about future developments in Hydro's markets, particularly prices, supply and demand and competition, (e) results of operations, (f) margins, (g) growth rates, (h) risk management, and (i) qualified statements such as "expected", "scheduled", "targeted", "planned", "proposed", "intended" or similar.

Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, these forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and forecasts that, by their nature, involve risk and uncertainty. Various factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected in a forward-looking statement or affect the extent to which a particular projection is realized. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: our continued ability to reposition and restructure our upstream and downstream businesses; changes in availability and cost of energy and raw materials; global supply and demand for aluminium and aluminium products; world economic growth, including rates of inflation and industrial production; changes in the relative value of currencies and the value of commodity contracts; trends in Hydro's key markets and competition; and legislative, regulatory and political factors.

No assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to have been correct.  Hydro disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.