Alcoa's aborted bid of $10.20 a share for WMC in late 2001 had WMC's stake in AWAC as its prime motivation. The demerger of WMC was an effort by the company to ensure competitiveness and transparency in any future bids for Alumina and the remaining part of the old WMC, WMC Resources. Alcoa said Fjaroaal would be the most environmentally friendly aluminum production facility in the world. "The Fjaroaal plant is an important element of Alcoa's growth strategy in primary metals," said Alcoa's chairman and chief executive, Alain Belda. "Across our entire primary metals portfolio, we are taking action to move production assets down the cost curve while maintaining return on capital targets."