Kaiser Parent Files ‘Shelf’ Registration

The majority shareholder of Kaiser Aluminum Corp. could reduce its stake in the company in the future by selling up to 10 million shares either directly to investors or through a convertible debt offering.

Houston-based Maxxam Inc. on Friday said it filed a so-called “shelf” registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to make available up to $200 million of secured or unsecured debt securities. The company, which owns 62 percent of Kaiser, left open the possibility of offering securities that could be exchanged for Kaiser common stock held by Maxxam.

The filing does not guarantee that Maxxam will ever make such an offer. Shelf registrations position a company to make a future offer when it senses demand on Wall Street.

The shelf registration gives Maxxam the freedom to reduce its stake in Kaiser to 50 percent, said Kaiser spokesman Scott Lamb. Maxxam currently owns 50 million of Kaiser’s 81 million shares of common stock.

Kaiser is Spokane County’s largest manufacturing employer, with nearly 2,600 workers at the Mead smelter and Trentwood flatrolled products mill. , DataTimes