Rusal hit by 6 billion dollar loss in 2008: report

MOSCOW — Russian aluminum giant UC Rusal suffered a six billion dollar loss in 2008 due the global economic crisis, according to a presentation ahead of its planned share listing in Hong Kong and Paris, a report said Monday. The Vedomosti daily said Rusal announced the 2008 net loss of 5.98 billion dollars in a presentation to analysts from investment banks who plan to take part in its Initial Public Offering (IPO). The IPO -- which has so far not been officially confirmed by the company -- would be the most significant such listing by a Russian firm since the onset last year of the financial crisis. According to Vedomosti, the company made a net loss of 720 million dollars in the first half of 2009. It said that revenues at Rusal had remained robust, reaching 15.68 billion dollars in 2008, and that most of its losses stemmed from write-downs on aseets. Most importantly, its 25 percent stake in the world's biggest nickel producer Norilsk Nickel, acquired in April 2008 just before the financial crisis broke, is now only worth a fifth of what it was. The majority shareholder in Rusal is Russia's former richest man Oleg Deripaska who owns almost 57 percent, while the current richest man Mikhail Prokhorov has a 14 percent stake. Vedomosti said that the IPO would involve 10 percent of the company's capital and the proceeds would be used exclusively to eradicate its debts. According to media reports, Rusal plans to list simultaneously on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Paris bourse, part of the pan-European stock exchange Euronext, but not in Russia. The economic crisis has left Rusal billions of dollars in debt and it has been in complex talks with its creditor banks to restructure the debts.