Russian aluminium giant Rusal mulls Hong Kong IPO

HONG KONG — Russian aluminium giant Rusal is considering listing in Hong Kong in what could be one of the largest offerings on the stock market here, a newspaper reported Wednesday. Hong Kong is one of two markets the metals company is looking at, the South China Morning Post said, quoting Rusal Deputy Chief Executive Artem Volynets. "One potential attraction of Hong Kong for us is the big Chinese metals and mining companies listed there," Volynets said. "Instead of buying mines, the Chinese raw material producers listed in Hong Kong can buy Rusal shares." Rusal's aluminium sales to China are expected to grow to 10 percent of the company's total revenues by 2015, the newspaper reported. If the company lists in Hong Kong it would be the first Russian IPO for the city's stock exchange, it said. Rusal declined to comment on a report in Britain's Independent newspaper that it had "snubbed" London by planning to list in Hong Kong by December with a market capitalisation of up to 30 billion dollars The company, which needs to raise equity to pay down debts, gave up plans to float on the London stock exchange in 2007, blaming financial market turmoil.