Noranda seeks bidders for Southeast Missouri plant

Noranda Aluminum’s plant in Southeast Missouri could soon hit the auction block.

According to a news release on the company’s website, Noranda has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District seeking approval of bidding procedures to “conduct an orderly and efficient sales process of its upstream business.”

The company expects the motion to be heard by the court July 14.

Deadline for bids for the New Madrid plant, which until its closing in March was the region’s largest employer, is Sept. 15. If several bids are received, the company said an auction would take place Sept. 22, with a hearing to approve the sale likely Sept. 27.

As for other holdings, Noranda has reached an agreement with the Swedish-based company Granges to submit the initial bid in the planned auction of the company’s flat-rolled products division, which runs two plants in Huntingdon, Tennessee, and one each in Arkansas and North Carolina. Those plants have continued running since the company filed for bankruptcy.

Granges executives’ so-called stalking-horse bid for the Noranda unit, which in 2015 produced a segment profit of $60 million on revenues of $550 million, has been set at $303 million, according to the Nashville Post.