DUSHANBE, October 9, Asia-Plus — Two Russian aluminum giants, Russian Aluminum (RusAl) and Siberian Ural Aluminum (SUAL), and Switzerland”s Glencore have signed an agreement on the consolidation of assets.
The new company that emerged following the unification has been named the United Company Russian Aluminum.
Aleksandr Kasatkin, a spokesman for the RusAl representative office in Dushanbe, said in an interview with Asia-Plus that the deal will have been finalized by April 1 2007.
According to him, the shareholding of the new post-merger company would be structured to RusAl 66 percent of shares; SUAL 22 percent, and Glencore 12 percent.
Kasatkin said Aleksandr Bulygin, RusAl’s chief executive, will run the new company as he runs RusAl.
The Russia Journal reported that Brian Gilberston, the SUAL chief executive, will be appointed chairman to give responsibility to the enterprise. According to the magazine, industry analyst Rob Edwards values the combined assets of the proposed company at $6.2 billion for SUAL; $18.7 billion for RusAl; and $4 billion for the Glencore alumina properties in Ireland, Jamaica, and Sardinia, if they are to be included. Altogether, $28.9 billion. If such a consolidation materializes, it would have rated alumina production of 11 million tons per annum, and 3.8 million tons of aluminum. The latter beats Alcoa of the US, currently world aluminum leader, by a trifle under 300,000 tons. .
The company will control 12% of the world”s primary aluminum market.
