August 28, 2008

RusAl Wants Norilsk tie up in a year

It is reported that RusAl would seek to combine with Norilsk Nickel, the country's biggest mining company in the next year and may buy shares on the open market.

Mr Alexander Bulygin CEO of RusAl said “A merger is n the interests of all shareholders. If the combination completes within a year in 10 years we can become the leader in metals and mining, producing all the metals traded on the London Metal Exchange.”

Mr Bulygin said closely held RusAl may seek to raise its stake in Norilsk by buying shares on the market if conditions are favorable. He said "If not, increasing the stake is not a must. We will review different ways to merge discussing it with Norilsk shareholders large and small."

Mr Bulygin said RusAl formed in March 2007 in a merger between Russian Aluminum, SUAL and the alumina assets of Glencore International has unique experience in unifying three companies. He said we are consolidators. He added that RusAl would not take an "aggressive" position to block a deal with Metalloinvest. RusAl doesn't want to spoil relations with global funds that hold stakes in Norilsk as the aluminum company itself plans to sell shares next year.

Metalloinvest said that it would continue to pursue merger talks with Norilsk.