Alcoa's plan to invigorate its aerospace business by acquiring RTI International Metals, a Moon titanium producer, began with a Dec. 8 phone call from Alcoa Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld to Robert Hernandez, chairman of RTI's board. According to a lengthy document Alcoa filed last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, what followed was a series of back-and-forth negotiations that culminated March 9, when the two metals producers announced a merger agreement that valued RTI at $1.5 billion.