HONG KONG, Sept 12 Alcoa Inc., the world's top aluminium maker, is selling its entire sta

HONG KONG, Sept 12 (Reuters) Alcoa Inc., the world's top aluminium maker, is selling its entire stake in Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco) for up to US$2 billion, reaping a potential profit on its investment of as much as US$1.9 billion.

Alcoa will sell 700 million Chalco shares, with an option to increase the number to 884.2 million shares, at between HK$17.26 and HK$18.27 apiece, a term sheet said on Wednesday.

The selling price represents a discount of between 10.4 percent and 15.4 percent against the stock's closing price of HK$20.40 on Wednesday.

Goldman Sachs was handling the deal.

Alcoa bought the shares of Chalco, the world's third-largest producer of alumina, in 2001 in an initial public offering at HK$1.37 per share, forming a strategic alliance.

The stake accounted for about 6.86 percent of Chalco, China's top alumina and alumina producer, as of the end of June.

Analysts said the share sale may fuel profit taking later as Chalco shares have nearly tripled this year, easily outpacing a 40 percent gain in the index of Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong over the same period.

''This is a change in the strategic partnership. When Chalco did its placement last year, Alcoa didn't subscribe to maintain its stake. That was an early signal,'' said Helen Wang, an analyst at DBS in Beijing.

''Maybe short-term we will see some share pullback, but any pullback will present a buying opportunity,'' she added.

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