CellMark, the world’s leading marketer of pulp and paper, announced today that its acquisition of Alcan International Network (AIN) closed on December 30. AIN is a global supply chain services company that provides valuable business links between manufacturers and customers in Chemicals & Minerals as well as Raw Materials and Equipment for the foundry industry. The seller is Constellium, the global developer of value added aluminium products. Constellium is owned by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Rio Tinto and Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement, the French sovereign investment fund.

The move reflects CellMark’s longstanding plans to diversify its global supply chain capabilities, creative trade finance solutions and risk management to products outside of the pulp and paper industry.

“We are very pleased to partner with AIN, an excellent company of experienced professionals with in-depth understanding of international markets,” said CellMark Chief Executive Officer Hans Kling. “From an operational perspective, the organizations have a great deal in common and we will leverage these commonalities to ensure that employees from both companies can exploit the opportunities the merger presents.”

CellMark is actively looking for people and companies that can make use of the platform established by CellMark. "CellMark is in a unique position to expand its business activities and pursue new opportunities," said Sir Adrian Montague, CellMark Chairman.

The partnership will also benefit AIN and its business partners significantly. “We look forward to leveraging CellMark’s financial strength and willingness to invest in strategic opportunities,” said Hugo Galletta, head of AIN’s Chemical Division. “Our people expect to team very closely with their new CellMark colleagues to develop creative solutions that help to improve the service we give to all our partners, AIN’s, CellMark’s, and those we cultivate together.