Pechiney SA was a major

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

conglomerate based in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The company was acquired in 2003 by the Alcan Corporation, headquartered in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. In 2007,

Alcan Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During t ...

itself was taken over by mining giant

Rio Tinto Alcan Rio Tinto Alcan is a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, based in Montreal. It was created on 15 November 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto's Canadian subsidiary and Canadian company Alcan. It is the global leader of aluminium mining and ...

. Prior to its acquisition, Pechiney grew to be the world's 4th largest producer and developer of aluminium products, employing 34,000 people and operating 320 manufacturing and sales facilities in 50 countries at the time it was purchased by Alcan. The group operated in all facets of the aluminium industry from

bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO ...

mining to the development of sophisticated applications of metal products in addition to international commodities trading and brokerage of the metal on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Pechiney gained worldwide recognition for its use of

electrolysis In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a technique that uses direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis is commercially important as a stage in the separation of elements from n ...

technology, and was a leader in specialty packaging and aerospace applications.Pechiney accepts Alcan bid
BBC News, September 12, 2003

History

The company was founded in 1855 by Henri Merle as a producer of caustic soda at a

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

facility in Salindres. Founded as Compagnie des Produits Chimiques Henri Merle the company was renamed in 1897 the Société des Produits Chimiques d'Alais et de la Camargue. The company first began producing aluminium

metal A metal (from ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...

in 1860 using a chemically-based process developed by

Henri Sainte-Claire Deville Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the ' List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.'' * Henri I de Mon ...

in 1854 and was granted a 30-year

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

by the French government. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

(1914–18) Tréfileries et Laminoirs du Havre (TLH) acquired a large stake in the Société d'Alais et de la Camargue. This company in turn took control of the Société électrométallurgique de Froges in 1919 to become the Compagnie des produits chimiques et électrométallurgiques d'Alais, Froges et Camargue. Hippolyte Bouchayer represented TLH in Pechiney. Pechiney had developed a significant presence in Europe in the 1930s and first prospected the American market in 1911 before acquiring a strong foothold there in the 1960s. In the 1954, Pechiney expanded into Africa and subsequently it developed a presence in Australia, Latin America, Greece and Asia. The corporate name was changed to Pechiney in 1948, after a former influential managing director referred to by the same name, A. R. Pechiney. In 1962 TLH merged with the

Compagnie française des métaux The Compagnie française des métaux (CFM) was a French metallurgy company founded in 1892 that acquired the assets of a predecessor that had gone into liquidation. The company operated a number of plants in different locations in France, mainly m ...

and became Tréfimétaux. In 1967 Tréfimétaux was acquired by Pechiney and became the copper division of that group, contributing 8% of the group's total.

Brandeis Brokers

Brandeis (Brokers) Ltd was a broker and ring dealing member on the London Metal Exchange that operated as a subsidiary of Pechiney from 1981 through 2000, when it was banned from trading by the FSA. Brandeis was one of the founding members of the London Metal Exchange in 1877. In 2000, the company's customer accounts and trading positions were purchased by Standard Bank London.

References

Sources

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External links

Venture capital website with corporate history of Pechiney SA

Rio Tinto Alcan AP Technology
{{Authority control Aluminium companies of France Former Rio Tinto (corporation) subsidiaries Privatized companies of France

History

Brandeis Brokers

See also

References

Sources

External links