UPDATE 2-Australia's Alumina to raise $730 mln in new equity

* 7-for-10 rights issue at A$1 per share * Offer at 32.9 pct discount to Wednesday closing share price * $460 mln to be raised through institutional offer (Adds shares on trading halt) SYDNEY, April 30 (Reuters) - Australian-listed Alumina Ltd (AWC.AX), the world's largest supplier of alumina to the aluminium industry, plans to raise up to about A$1.02 billion ($730 million) in new shares to help cut debt, it said on Thursday. Alumina is a 40 percent partner in the Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals joint venture. U.S. aluminium giant Alcoa (AA.N) holds 60 percent. Alumina is raising the funds through a 7-for-10 rights issue at A$1 per share, including institutional and retail offers. It said it would use the new funds to repay debt and strengthen its balance sheet. The offer represents a 32.9 percent discount to Alumina's closing price on Wednesday of A$1.49 per share. Trading in its shares has been halted pending completion of the raising. Alcoa said it has also rolled over $100 million of debt facilities to April 2012 that were previously due to mature in 2010. The company said the AWAC joint venture was responding to deteriorating market conditions by conserving cash. It has cut costs and capital expenditure, and deferred growth projects apart from the completion of projects in Brazil. On Wednesday, Alcoa announced that AWAC's 55 percent-owned Portland aluminium smelter in Australia would cut production by another 38,000 tonnes to help it survive a downturn that had hit metals prices. The reduction, in addition to a 15,000-tonne cut in December, will bring total annual output down 15 percent to 305,000 tonnes. [nSYD346990]. Alumina said the construction of AWAC's Juruti bauxite mine in Brazil was on time and on budget, being 87 percent complete in February while the Alumar refinery expansion in Brazil was also on track. It was 96 percent complete in February. ($1=1.399 Australian Dollar)