Rothschild scion to invest in Rusal: reports
A scion of the Rothschild banking family plans to invest in the Hong Kong initial public offering of the world's largest aluminium producer UC Rusal, reports said Tuesday.
Hedge fund manager Nathaniel Rothschild will get behind the two-billion-US-dollar share sale, the South China Morning Post reported, after regulators had delayed its approval several times since late November. Rothschild is a friend of Rusal's Chief Executive Oleg Deripaska, Dow Jones Newswires said.
Global asset manager BlackRock, New York hedge fund firm Paulson & Co. and Los Angeles-based Capital Group are all considering buying shares in the IPO, Dow Jones said last Friday.
Russian business newspaper Vedomosti has said the China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund, also plans to buy Rusal shares.
There was uncertainty about whether Rusal could win approval for the sale, amid concerns about its 16.8 billion US dollar debt, although the company said this month that it had reached a deal with creditors to restructure the debt.
Rusal racked up its massive debt after metals prices tumbled during the global financial crisis last year.
A source close to the company has told AFP that Hong Kong's bourse approved the sale earlier this month.
But the SFC, Hong Kong's market watchdog, placed restrictions to discourage retail investors from participating in the IPO, several media reported, citing unnamed sources.
Vedomosti said that Rusal is now planning to set the IPO price and complete the transaction by January 20. Pre-marketing will start on January 5.
Copyright 2009  AFP Global Edition
