RUSAL may extend July 28 debt standstill -sources

MOSCOW, July 23 - Russian United Company RUSAL may need to extend its debt standstill agreement past the July 28 deadline to resolve unspecified bureaucratic matters, three sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT "A couple more weeks are needed in order to clear everything up," a source close to RUSAL's shareholders said. The world's largest aluminium producer would not comment. Last week, RUSAL said it expected to sign a deal to restructure its $7.3 billion debt with foreign banks before a deadline. [ID:nLH691865] RUSAL said in June that 70 international banks had agreed to extend a debt freeze until July 28 in order to allow the company to restructure foreign loans, a bellwether case for Russia's ability to manage its $453 billion in foreign debt. A banking industry source on Thursday said if no agreement was reached next week, the standstill agreement would be extended until late September. A second banking source said the same thing. RUSAL, majority owned by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, signed an initial two-month standstill agreement on its debt to foreign banks in March. [ID:nL6502607] The company has a total debt burden of $16.8 billion. (Reporting by Christopher Mangham, Oksana Kobzeva and Polina Devitt; Writing by Alfred Kueppers; Editing by Dan Lalor)