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Péchiney ditches merger
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March 14, 2000: 12:15 p.m. ET
French firm puts Alcan-Alusuisse tie on back burner, vows to revamp deal
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Aluminum producer Péchiney retreated Tuesday in its battle to get European Union approval for its $7 billion three-way merger with Canada's Alcan and Switzerland's Alusuisse.
Péchiney withdrew its application to the European Commission, the Brussels-based executive arm of the EU, just hours before the EC was due to rule on the three-way deal. The company said it would resubmit its merger plan later, and that the Alcan-Alusuisse deal would still go ahead.
The complicated combination of the three companies, to form a business provisionally entitled APA, would have involved Alcan acquiring Alusuisse and then Péchiney.
Péchiney said it would return to the Commission with more concessions -- reported to involve a way of cutting its 45 percent share of the European market for aluminum to make beverage cans market -- to secure the watchdog's approval. The goal of the eleventh-hour move is to "review the Commission's concerns in greater detail and investigate alternatives," the company said in a statement.
The Commission was widely reported to be about to reject the three-way merger, with a decision due to be announced later Tuesday.
 Péchiney (PPEC) stock was briefly suspended after rocketing 10 percent higher on the news, and when it was requoted the stock advanced to 57.20 euros.
The shares have almost halved in recent months as suspicions grew that the deal would be blocked.
The French newspaper Le Monde reported Tuesday that Péchiney would resubmit its application within two weeks. 
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Péchiney
Alcan
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