Russian Aluminum Could Become South African
SUAL Holding President Brian Gilbertson has suggested attracting South African Anglo American to the holding established by SUAL, RUSAL and Glencore, Britain’s media reported. Should it ever happen, the stakes of RUSAL and SUAL in the new company would shed to 20 percent and 6.6 percent respectively. In RUSAL, they say no partners will appear in the following half a year, while the market analysts name Rio Tinto as the most probable investor for Anglo American.
According to The Times, SUAL Holding President and future BOD chairman of Russian Aluminum, Brian Gilbertson has proposed to other BOD members to consider probable consolidation with Anglo American. Russian Aluminum is being currently created based on the assets of RUSAL, SUAL and Swiss Glencore (the agreement of October 9).
But Anglo American’s capitalization ($68.7 billion according to LSE quotes) is more than two fold above the most optimistic forecasts for Russian Aluminum (between $25 billion and $30 billion). The consolidation will narrow RUSAL share in the united company from 66 percent to 20 percent, SUAL will go down from 22 percent to 6.68 percent, Glencore will have 3.6 percent instead of 12 percent, while more than 70 percent will go to owners of Anglo American.
SUAL declined to comment on Gilbertson’s plans related to Anglo American. In RUSAL they appeared very much surprised by the news, saying Gilbertson couldn’t have recommended anything to the BOD, as no BOD has been established yet. “The Board of Directors will appear only by completion of the merger deal, i.e. by April 1,” the company’s representatives explained.
So, Anglo American’s takeover by Russian Aluminum could be considered no earlier than in half a year. But Anglo American will probably find a strategic partner by that date. The candidates are Rio Tinto and Xtrata, the analysts speculate.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 23, 2006
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