Deripaska Ready to Sacrifice RUSAL Publicity to Govt

The merger of Alcan and Rio Tinto will end the world leadership of Russia’s RUSAL, while the owner of the latter, Oleg Deripaska, has questioned the chances of company’s IPO. Canadian Alcan announced Thursday it accepted the merger offer of British-Australian Rio Tinto, signaling the world leadership of RUSAL is nearing the end. Next day, owner of 66 percent in RUSAL, Oleg Deripaska, gave an interview to The Financial Times that actually ended the hopes of his partners in RUSAL, including BOD Chairman Viktor Vekselberg, and his SUAL colleagues for the prompt IPO of the aluminum giant. To be more precise, Deripaska has openly declared the lack of interest in holding the company’s IPO and his readiness to sacrifice its publicity for the sake of the state. But this statement of Deripaska contradicts the intention of his partners, mostly of Victor Vekselberg, who counted on placing the stocks till the year-end. According to analysts, the state interests are obviously a very weighty argument, but the market won’t lose much even if Deripaska finally prevails. When it comes to IPO, it could be held during three years since the company’s emergence, sources with RUSAL said, denying the rumors about its potential re-privatization. United RUSAL was officially established March 27, 2007, so the deadline is March 2010.