Trump aluminium tariffs said to prompt UAE’s EGA to delay IPO

Abu Dhabi, UAE - A planned share sale in the United Arab Emirates may be the latest casualty of US President Donald Trump’s trade policies.

US tariffs on aluminium imports have prompted Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), which produces about four per cent of the metal globally, to delay an initial public offering (IPO), according to people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. The company confirmed the decision but attributed it to unfavourable market conditions.

Khaldoon al Mubarak, CEO of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund Mubadala Investment Co, said in May that EGA could go public in the second half of the year or early 2019. EGA, owned equally by Mubadala and the Investment Corp of Dubai, exports about 90 per cent of its output and considers the US a ‘key market’.

Trump has imposed a ten per cent levy on aluminium imports as part of measures designed to protect US industries. The administration’s global trade war, particularly with China, has affected all industrial metals, but for aluminium producers the pain has been intensified by a surge in the price of alumina, the main ingredient used to make the metal.

EGA in February said it produced a record 2.6mn tons of cast metal last year, making it the third-largest producer of primary aluminium outside China.

The company, in an emailed response to questions, reiterated its plans to sell shares publicly but said market conditions ‘may not improve until later in 2019’.

‘However, EGA has completed its preparations and is ready to proceed as soon as market conditions are suitable’, the company said.