Biz People: Belda hopes to leave on high

Alain Belda (above right), expected to retire next year after nearly a decade as chief executive of Alcoa Inc, is hoping to go out on top after offering $27 billion to buy Canadian rival Alcan Inc.

The $73.25-a-share offer announced on Monday would return Alcoa to the top spot in the global aluminum industry, a bragging right it lost last year to Russian rival Rusal.

For the Moroccan-born Belda, 63, pulling off the deal would cap a career that started in 1969, when he joined the company's Brazilian affiliate Alcoa Aluminio.

From there, he advanced through Alcoa's Latin American operations, then moved to Pittsburgh, and took over as CEO in 1999.

He added the title of chairman two years later.

"People have been waiting for him to do something big, and he's doing it," said John Redstone, analyst at Desjardins Securities in Montreal.

The Alcan offer is not the first major deal for Belda. Alcoa spent about $8 billion under his watch in 2000 to acquire Reynolds Metals and Cordant Technologies.

Belda became a Brazilian citizen in 1982. Before joining Alcoa, he worked as an accountant at BASF .

(China Daily 05/09/2007 page16)