OAO Sual began paying dividends only last year. On September 29, the company's shareholders decided to transfer 4.9 billion rubles (1.94 rubles per share) for these purposes based on the results of the first half of 2006. And on December 29, they approved the next dividend payments, the company reported yesterday. For the third quarter of 2006, dividends will amount to 3.2 billion rubles (1.26 rubles per share). Thus, the total amount of payments for nine months will exceed 8.1 billion rubles (about $308 million).

Last year was a successful one for Sual. The average price of aluminum increased by about 25% compared to 2005, to $2,300–2,400 per ton. Sual’s net profit last year was no less than $400 million, Metropol analyst Denis Nushtayev is sure – it turns out that the company will pay out almost everything it earned in dividends for nine months.

But the reason for Sual's sudden generosity is not only the increased profit. By April 1, the merger of Sual, Rusal, and the aluminum assets of the Swiss Glencore into a single company, United Company Rusal, should be completed, in which Viktor Vekselberg and his partners will receive 22%. On the eve of this deal, Sual shareholders are withdrawing funds from the company's balance sheet, Nushtayev is sure. This is a standard procedure. For example, Sibneft paid shareholders $2.3 billion on the eve of its sale to Gazprom. Rusal will probably do the same, especially since large dividends are nothing new to this company, Nushtayev says. In 2005, Rusal paid Oleg Deripaska $1.48 billion in dividends (89.7% of net profit), and in 2004, its shareholders received $978 million (92.6%). In 2006, Rusal earned about $3.2 billion, Nushtayev believes. This means that Deripaska could receive at least $3 billion. Representatives of Sual and Rusal declined to comment on their companies' dividend policies yesterday.

However, the owners of Sual had to spend money to buy out shares from minority shareholders. Yesterday, Sual reported that Alu Process Holdings Ltd had completed the forced buyout of 3.69% of Sual shares from minority shareholders for 2.8 billion rubles ($106.5 billion) and is now its 100% owner. But Sual may still have problems with this deal. The Federal Financial Markets Service (FFMS) issued an order to Alu Process in the fall to correct violations of the share buyout requirement. Although amendments to the law “On Joint Stock Companies” that allowed owners of 95% of shares to claim the buyout of minority shareholders came into force on July 1, in practice they have not yet worked. The structure that should oversee the activities of self-regulatory organizations of appraisers has not yet been created and Sual’s actions may be challenged in court, a representative of the FFMS warned yesterday. At Suale itself they are confident that the assessment was carried out according to all the rules and there are no grounds for complaints.

“Sual” will pay $300 million