Alcoa Is Canning Units That Don’t Meld With Aluminum

Aluminum Co. of America said Wednesday that it has sold its aerospace composites unit and agreed to sell its Carado Inc. windows and patio doors unit because the businesses don’t fit with its main aluminum business.

Terms for the transactions were not disclosed.

Alcoa sold the Monrovia-based composite structures unit, which makes materials for the aerospace industry, to Quarterdeck Equity Partners Inc. of Los Angeles and members of the Pritzker family.

The business, with $40 million in annual revenue and 400 employees, will be renamed Composite Structures. The unit’s customers include Boeing Co., McDonnell Douglas Corp. and Rolls-Royce.

Pittsburgh-based Alcoa also agreed to sell its Carado unit in Illinois to Jeld-Wen Inc., a Klamath Falls, Ore.-based maker of building products and millwork. Alcoa declined to disclose annual revenue of Carado, which makes wood and vinyl windows and patio doors.

Carado has 1,100 employees and sells to distributors serving the building and lumber markets and other customers. A Carado spokeswoman said in October that the business was profitable.

The sale is expected to be completed at the end of the first quarter.

Alcoa shares fell 12.5 cents to close at $67.375 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Earlier Wednesday, the company said fourth-quarter profit from operations fell 6.9% to $144.9 million, or 83 cents a share, from the year-earlier quarter because of slumping aluminum prices.