PE Firm AIP Said to Explore Sale of Biggest EU Aluminum Smelter

US private equity firm American Industrial Partners LP is considering a sale of Aluminium Dunkerque Industries France SAS, which runs the largest aluminum smelter in the European Union, according to people familiar with the matter.

AIP took control of Aluminium Dunkerque in 2021, after buying several hundred million dollars of debt linked to the smelter, and using it to seize ownership from Sanjeev Gupta’s beleaguered GFG Alliance. At the time, surging energy prices were plunging aluminum plants across Europe into crisis.