Kaiser Aluminum Announces Closure of Tulsa, Okla. Facility and Reductions at Bellwood, Va. Facility

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) today announced plans to close operations at its Tulsa, Okla. extrusion facility and significantly reduce operations at its Bellwood, Va., facility. Approximately 45 employees at the Tulsa facility and 125 employees at the Bellwood facility will be affected.

The Tulsa and Bellwood facilities primarily produce extruded seamless tube and rod and bar products sold principally to service centers for general engineering applications. The operations and workforce reductions are a result of deteriorating economic and market conditions. Kaiser Aluminum continues to maintain capacity throughout its operations capable of meeting customer needs and serving anticipated market demand in the core markets of extruded rod and bar, seamless tube, and automotive products. The Bellwood facility will continue to produce drive shaft tube for automotive applications, seamless tube and large diameter rod and bar for service centers.

These actions are expected to be completed by early 2009 and result in a restructuring charge of approximately $6 million to $10 million in the fourth quarter of 2008 related to employee benefits, asset impairment and other related costs.

Kaiser Aluminum, headquartered in Foothill Ranch, Calif., is a leading producer of fabricated aluminum products, serving customers worldwide with highly-engineered solutions for aerospace and high-strength, general engineering, and custom automotive and industrial applications. The company's North American facilities annually produce more than 500 million pounds of value-added sheet, plate, extrusions, forgings, rod, bar and tube products, adhering to traditions of quality, innovation and service that have been key components of our culture since the company was founded in 1946. The company's stock is included in the Russell 2000(R) index. For more information, please visit www.kaiseraluminum.com.

This press release contains statements based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 involving known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from those expressed or implied. Kaiser Aluminum cautions that such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and involve significant risks and uncertainties and actual events may vary materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. These factors include: (a) changes in economic or aluminum industry business conditions generally, including supply, demand and credit conditions; (b) changes in the markets served by the company, including aerospace, defense, general engineering, automotive, distribution and other markets, including changes impacting the volume, price or mix of products sold by the company; (c) the company's ability to effectively address operating inefficiencies; (d) customer performance; (e) changes in competitive factors in the markets served by the company; and (f) other risk factors summarized in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007. All information in this release is as of the date of the release. The company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the company's expectations.

    Source: Kaiser Aluminum

Released December 18, 2008