Century Aluminum Prices Offering of 7.3M Shares at $52.50 Per Share

MONTEREY, Calif. -- Century Aluminum Co., which produces aluminum in the U.S. and Iceland, said Friday it priced a public offering of 7.3 million shares of its common stock at $52.50 per share.

Approximately 1.7 million of the shares will be sold to investors in Iceland through global depositary receipts.

Century Aluminum said it applied to the First North Iceland market of the Iceland Stock Exchange for a listing of the global depositary receipts.

The company is giving the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 1.1 million shares to cover any overallotments, which would include 247,500 shares that would be sold to investors in Iceland in the form of global depositary receipts.

Century Aluminum plans to use the estimated proceeds of $360 million as part of the financing for the construction of a proposed aluminum smelter near Helguvik, Iceland. Pending the start of construction, the company expects to use the proceeds to reduce debt, invest in highly rated short-term securities and other corporate purposes.

The offering is expected to close around June 13, subject to customary conditions.

Shares of Century Aluminum fell 65 cents to $52.42 in morning trading. The stock has traded between $29.60 and $58.60 in the past 52 weeks.