Alcoa - Alcan alchemy..

The recent announcement by the Aluminum Company of American (Alcoa) to acquire the Aluminum Company of Canada (Alcan) for $33 billion dollars, see Alcoa Press Release, May 7, 2007, is nothing if not historically interesting. Alcoa Press Release claims that "(t)he combination of Alcoa and Alcan creates a stronger, more diverse global competitor with the scale and cost structure to be competitive over the long term within a rapidly changing industry landscape. Alcoa and Alcan will bring together a complementary portfolio of businesses and benefit from a broader talent base, enhanced research and development expertise, and shared values."

How true. These two were one same company some 79 years ago and were broken up to address the same scale issue alluded to in the press release. We all know what happened to the stock markets and the world economies just one year later, in1929!