Period Closes for Alcoa Limited Tender Offer - Preliminary Results

    PITTSBURGH & OSLO--Oct. 16, 2002--The period for the tender offer by Alcoa for 3.5 million shares of Elkem closed at 5:00 PM, Tuesday October 15. Alcoa received 111,358 shares at 175 NOK and now holds a total of 22,928,426 shares or 46.5% of Elkem common shares.
    Commenting on the results of the tender and recent trading in Elkem, Alcoa Chairman and CEO Alain Belda said, "The tender offer was designed to allow any Elkem shareholder not affiliated with the large institutional shareholders to exit their Elkem investment if they chose to do so. In the interests of fairness, Alcoa wanted to offer smaller shareholders the same price that we had recently paid for shares offered to us. We respect the decision of any Elkem shareholder to retain their shares or to sell to someone else at a higher price."