US Department of Justice has proposed the US District Court of Ohio to direct Novelis Inc to divest Aleris Corporation’s aluminium body sheet operations in North America on May 12.
If the court approves this proposal, it will fully resolve the claim of competitive harm alleged in a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department in September. The suit aimed at stopping Novelis from acquiring Aleris and the Justice Department won the arbitration on March 9. The arbitrator upheld the concern that the deal could hurt automotive makers as the prices of aluminum body sheets would move up.
Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division ruled that divestiture would preserve competition in aluminium automotive sheet market and will protect automakers and American consumers.
Novelis is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indian company Hindalco Industries. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and reported $12.3bn in revenues for the fiscal year 2019.
Aleris offers flat-rolled aluminium products to the automotive, aerospace, real estate. Aleris has 49 manufacturing plants in North America, Europe, and Asia. In 2018, Aleris reported $3.4bn in revenues.