Drop the burden

Debts force RUSAL to conduct an IPO

The aluminum company RUSAL intends to repay the bulk of its debt to all creditors in the amount of $7.4 billion through an initial public offering, as well as operating cash flows. “We are considering an IPO as a source of repayment of the bulk of the debt, the idea of ​​which we have not abandoned. Moreover, we believe that over the next two years this is absolutely possible - the markets will recover,” Interfax quotes Oleg Mukhamedshin, director of the company for capital markets. Experts say that if current prices for aluminum remain the same, RUSAL will be able to achieve such deadlines.

Currently, RUSAL's total debt is $16.8 billion. It includes debt to Western creditors in the amount of $7.4 billion, debt to Russian banks - $2.1 billion, to the Onexim group of Mikhail Prokhorov -- $2.8 billion (an agreement on restructuring has already been reached), as well as a debt to Vnesheconombank in the amount of $4.5 billion. The main Russian creditors of the aluminum giant are Gazprombank, Sberbank and VTB. The company's debt to each of them amounts to $600-700 million. The smallest debt to Alfa Bank is about $90 million.

At the end of July, RUSAL agreed with the coordination committee of international creditors on the terms of a long-term debt restructuring in the amount of $7.4 billion, promising to reduce the total debt by $5 billion over four years. According to Vremya Novostei, in addition to the IPO and the sale of a number of business assets, of the empire of the main owner of RUSAL Oleg Deripaska, creditors proposed to consider the possibility of selling a 25 percent stake in Norilsk Nickel, owned by the company and pledged under a VEB loan. However, according to Mr. Mukhamedshin, the company will not use this option for now. “In theory, RUSAL has always had and remains the option to sell this stake. However, at present RUSAL is not even considering this option. And until the loan from Vnesheconombank is repaid (the security of which is secured by the blocking stake in Norilsk Nickel owned by RUSAL. - Ed. ), there can be no talk of selling this stake at all,” said Mr. Mukhamedshin. In any case, Norilsk Nickel is a strategic enterprise, and the sale of its shares should be discussed with the state. In the meantime, RUSAL plans to reach an agreement in September with Russian banks, including VEB, on debt restructuring. According to Mr. Mukhamedshin, the process of agreeing on the terms of restructuring with Russian banks differs from agreement with Western creditors. “In this case, there will not be any single agreement; we are negotiating with each of these banks, and they are at a fairly advanced stage,” he noted.

There has been talk about an IPO in relation to RUSAL for a long time. Even when the assets of Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg were combined, there was talk that this operation should be carried out. Although Mr. Deripaska managed not to make firm commitments on this matter. Later, RUSAL co-owners Viktor Vekselberg and Mikhail Prokhorov said more than once that the company was ready to issue shares. The IPO was presented as the first step towards a merger with Norilsk Nickel and the creation of a major player in the mining and metallurgical industry on the basis of the two companies. The financial crisis confused the cards for RUSAL, but the shareholders did not abandon the idea, and, as experts noted yesterday, such plans of the company are quite realistic. “Six months ago, no one believed that aluminum prices would jump to $2,000 - since the beginning of the year they have increased by 30%, and from their lows since February - by 60%. If prices remain at the same levels further, the company will become profitable, the financial situation will improve and the IPO will be quite successful,” states Uralsib analyst Dmitry Smolin. However, he believes that the placement should only be expected next year.

Oleg Deripaska himself has said more than once that he believes that “everything will change for the better.” “I am confident that we will see oil at $180 per barrel in less than three years and aluminum, which used to cost $3.5 thousand per ton, and now $1.5 thousand, at 4 thousand. dollars per ton in three to four years,” he predicted already in December last year, when there were very few reasons for such optimism.

Irina TSYRULEVA