Germany's Speira more than doubles aluminium recycling capacity

LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - (This March 31 story has been refiled to clarify Speira is a company in paragraph 1)

German aluminium company Speira has more than doubled its recycling capacity to 650,000 tonnes with completion of its acquisition of Real Alloy Europe, the company said on Friday.

Speira, which owns the world's largest rolled aluminium finishing mill in Germany, said the capacity boost increases its ability to use recycled metal to make low-carbon rolled aluminium products.

The acquisition announced in February last year adds 350,000 tonnes of recycling capacity, the company told Reuters.

It includes three aluminium and magnesium recycling facilities in Germany as well as an aluminium recycling plant and a salt slag recycling facility in Norway, Speira said in a statement.

"Today marks a milestone on Speira´s transformation journey to becoming a leading aluminium rolling and recycling company and accelerates the decarbonisation of our business,” said Chief Executive Einar Glomnes.

Speira, which is owned by private equity firm KPS Capital Partners, had won EU antitrust approval for the deal by addressing competition concerns with an offer to sell two plants.

Plans to divest Real Alloy facilities in France and Britain are expected to take place early in the second quarter, the company's statement said.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.