The separation of Alcoa Inc. into two distinct standalone companies– Alcoa Corp. and Arconic Inc.—took effect on Nov.1.

Back in Sept. 2015, Alcoa’s board of directors unanimously approved a plan to separate the 128-year-old firm into two independent, publicly traded companies. 

The aim was to create one entity (Alcoa Corp.) devoted to Alcoa’s traditional lightweight metal manufacturing and other upstream businesses and another (Arconic) focused on engineered products and solutions, including truck wheels.

The spinoff was accomplished  via a pro rata distribution by Arconic of 80% percent of the outstanding shares of newly formed Alcoa Corp. Alcoa Inc. shareholders received one share of Alcoa Corporation common stock for every three shares of Alcoa Inc. common stock, held as of the record date of Oct. 20. Alcoa Inc. shareholders also retained their shares of Alcoa Inc., which became Arconic Inc. shares.

“Today we launch Arconic as a strong independent company,” said Arconic Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld. “Our multi-year transformation while part of Alcoa Inc. substantially improved our competitiveness and profitability.”

Arconic stated in a news release on the separation that in the North American automotive market, it is at the “forefront of capturing growing demand for aluminum sheet as the industry shifts to light-weighting,” including for truck cabs and chassis. Arconic will also continue to offer its Alcoa-branded forged aluminum wheels for commercial vehicles.

The company added that across its North American automotive portfolio, 96% of its revenues come from products “where it is number one or number two in its market.”