European Metals Recycler Looks to Expand

Norddeutsche Affinerie AG, Europe's largest copper producer and the world's largest copper recycler, is planning to expand into Latin America and the United States.

According to press reports, Werner Marnette, chief executive for the company, based in Germany, said the company is considering the construction of a plant for the smelting of copper concentrate in Chile. In March, Marnette will be traveling to Chile to sound out the situation. "If anything's happening in Chile, we want to be part of it," he said. If a project does go ahead in Chile, it will be NA's first foray into an overseas market.

The company also has its sights set on the U.S. market, where the last remaining plant for recycling copper waste has just been wound up. NA now plans to supply copper products to the U.S. and in return import copper by-products.

Marnette described the first-quarter earnings figure as "highly satisfactory" and said it sent out a positive signal for the whole fiscal year. But he refrained from venturing any forecasts for the fiscal year as a whole, pointing to the current economic uncertainty.

Dresdner Bank holds an 8 percent stake in NA's capital, but it's set to sell the shares to take advantage of favorable tax conditions created by the reforms of Finance Minister Hans Eichel. Marnette said the search for a solution for these shares is still ongoing and there's no time pressure.

Marnette has said in the past that he would like to see the shares taken over by an industrial partner, and he repeated that view in his interview with Handelsblatt. His own partners of choice would be OM Group Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio, which already holds a 10% stake in NA, and L.Possehl & Co. mbH, based in Lübeck, Germany. Handlesblatt