Metals giant Alcoa to split into 2 companies in 2016

Metals firm Alcoa Inc said yesterday it would split into two publicly traded entities, acknowledging that its legacy aluminum operations and higher-value and automotive businesses were diverging and no longer compatible. New York-based Alcoa's traditional smelting business has been hurt by a ballooning surplus of aluminum, which has caused prices to sink and deepened the industry's worst crisis in years. At the same time, the company has bet on growth from higher-margin titanium and high-strength aluminum sales to the aerospace industry, citing a growing order book for airplane production and renewed global spending on automobiles. The split is expected to take place in the second half of 2016 and the firm will retain the name Alcoa, the company said.