BEIJING, May 9 -- Alcoa Inc's planned 26.9 billion U.S. dollars takeover offer for Alcan Inc may be the strategic move Chief Executive Officer Alain Belda seeks to get his company's shares to reflect surging metals prices.

    Alcoa's cash-and-stock offer to create the world's largest aluminum producer has already led the company's shares to their biggest one-day gain since Nov. 21, 2002, while Alcan's stock had its biggest climb since at least 1980, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.

    "This will cement his legacy," said Scott Burns, an analyst with Morningstar Inc in Chicago. "Belda becomes the one who most firmly establishes Alcoa's position as a real force to be reckoned with in the metals world. I had expected Belda to be the acquired, not the acquirer."

    As recently as February, some investors had said a takeover of New York-based Alcoa may have been Belda's best bet. The shares jumped 6.4 percent on Feb. 13, at the time the most since April 2003, after London's Times said BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Plc may each have been preparing 40 billion dollars bids for Alcoa. Neither company has bid.

    The takeover speculation contributed to a 24 percent jump in Alcoa stock in the six months before Monday. Surging metals demand had sent aluminum prices up 64 percent in the three years ended Feb. 13, while Alcoa shares fell 5.4 percent. Alcoa shares had fallen 8.3 percent from when Belda took over in May 1999 through February 13, while Montreal-based Alcan jumped 52 percent.

    Alcoa's offer for Alcan "is as much a defensive move as it is offensive, since it leads us to believe that a strategic buyer is likely pushing Alcoa to do this deal," Michael Gambardella, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co, wrote on Monday in a note to clients. Gambardella expects Alcoa's bid to spur offers for both companies.

    Investors had speculated Alcoa may be a takeover target after a five-year rally in metals such as copper, aluminum and zinc left the world's largest mining companies flush with cash. More than 157 billion dollars of takeovers and mergers were announced last year in the industry.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)