Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, UC RusAl CEO Oleg Deripaska said he could not exclude the participation of the Russian government in the company. “I don’t think the government is interested in acquiring a stake in RusAl. However, if it does, the government will, in any case, be a minority shareholder.” Deripaska also said one of the variants of restructuring the company’s huge debts is to issue bonds that can be converted into shares. “We are currently in negotiations with Russian and foreign banks, and we expect to conclude preliminary talks by end of February.” This is not the first time that RusAl is approaching banks for financial support since the crisis outbreak. For instance, it received a $4.5bln credit from VEB last November to repay the loans used in bankrolling its purchase of over 25% stake in NorNickel. The leader of the global aluminium industry, UC RusAl was formed from the merger of RusAl, SuAl and Swiss Glencore in 2007 and currently controls 12% of the aluminum and 15% of the alumina global markets.
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