Alcoa sells construction company

announced today that it has signed an agreement to sell its Alcoa Home Exteriors business to

for more than $300m in cash. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Alcoa Home Exteriors manufactures and markets products for the residential construction and remodelling markets in the US. Alcoa announced in April its plan to divest the Alcoa Home Exteriors business because it no longer fit with its core global building and construction business portfolio.

Alcoa Home Exteriors has 1,400 employees, revenues of approximately $600m in 2005, and offers a portfolio of more than 14,000 products. Alcoa Home Exteriors' manufacturing facilities are located in Atlanta, Georgia; Denison, Texas; Gaffney, South Carolina; Sidney, Ohio; and Stuarts Draft, Virginia.

Ply Gem Industries, headquartered in Kearney, Missouri, is majority owned by private investment firm Caxton-Iseman Capital, Inc. Its principal products include vinyl siding, windows, patio doors, fencing, railing, decking and accessories and aluminium window and siding products.