Kaiser motions to delay Alpart sale

Debtors of Houston-based Kaiser Aluminum (OTC BB: KLUCQ) filed a motion in US bankruptcy court for the District of Delaware on Thursday May 27 to reopen the auction process for the Alpart alumina plant in Jamaica June 1, according to court documents, the company announced. The emergency motion asks the court to set aside its April 26 sale order for Alpart assets and to re-open the auction at the hearing already scheduled for the case, or some time by June 4. Norway's Hydro Aluminium announced May 25 that it had exercised its right of first refusal to buy 65% of the 500,000t/y Alpart alumina operation in Jamaica from Houston-based Kaiser Aluminum (OTC BB: KLUCQ) and agreed to sell it to Swiss-based metals trader Glencore, as part of a corporate strategy to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.