Falconbridge the new

In an effort to preserve a part of history, the merger between Noranda (NRD-T) and Falconbridge (FL-T) will create a new company to be named Falconbridge.

Initially, the merged company was to have the name NorandaFalconbridge, but the president and chief executive officer of Falconbridge, Aaron Regent, told a group of financial analysts that the combined name received a lot of constructive feedback and it just wasn’t going to work from a communications and branding perspective.

“Noranda and Falconbridge are two great names in the mining business,” says Regent. “And both have long histories and so we wanted to retain one of them.”

Falconbridge’s name was chosen because it, more than Noranda, has consistently focused on copper and nickel production. Regent explained that they wanted a name that people would associate with those commodities.

The new Falconbridge will be one of North America’s largest base metals companies, owning about US$12 billion in assets. The new company ranks third in the world for both nickel and zinc production and eighth in copper. It also produces 10% of the aluminum that is consumed in the U.S.

The companies plan to combine by converting each outstanding Falconbridge common share (other than shares held by Noranda) into 1.77 common shares of the new Falconbridge, while each Noranda share will be converted directly into one common share of the new Falconbridge. Preferred shares will be exchanged on a 1:1 basis into new preferred shares.

Shareholders will vote on the proposal at the end of this month; the merger must be approved by two-thirds majorities at both meetings.

The merger consolidates the ownership structure of the companies. Brascan (BNN-T) owns 41% of Noranda and Noranda (as at May of this year and following a share exchange) owns 91% of Falconbridge. Brascan will own about 20% of the new company.

Upon completion of the amalgamation, Aaron Regent will be president of the new Falconbridge, while Derek Pannell (the current president and chief executive officer of Noranda) will be chief executive officer.