Rusal Lenders Said to Weigh Agreement on Debt Within Two Weeks

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- United Co. Rusal, the world’s biggest aluminum producer, may agree on terms to restructure $7.4 billion of loans within two weeks, said three people familiar with the matter. Foreign banks extended the so-called standstill accord with the Moscow-based company for the fifth time, to Dec. 11 from today, freezing debt repayments until the terms of the restructuring are agreed on, said the people, who can’t be identified because the talks are private. Vera Kurochkina, a spokeswoman for Rusal, declined to comment. Rusal first agreed with foreign banks in March to freeze debt payments. The aluminum producer, controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, is trying to restructure $14 billion of borrowings after commodity prices and demand for the metal plunged during the global economic crisis. A restructuring agreement needs to be signed by the time Rusal holds its proposed initial public offering in Hong Kong, the people said. Rusal’s board will make the final decision on the IPO and a listing of depositary receipts in Paris after reviewing market conditions, one of the people said. Should Rusal’s shareholders agree to proceed this year, the IPO will likely take place in December, given the progress made in the talks with the banks, the person said. To contact the reporters on this story: Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovsky@bloomberg.net; Yuriy Humber in Moscow at yhumber@bloomberg.net