Mermaid plants. The management of Rusal resigned

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Who owns Russian aluminum?

The policy of UC RUSAL and Oleg Deripaska may lead to the transfer of the world's largest aluminum concern under the control of foreign banks and the collapse of the aluminum industry in the Urals.

The united company RUSAL was established in 2007 as a result of the merger of JSC Russian Aluminum, JSC Siberian-Ural Aluminum and a number of metallurgical assets of the international holding Glencor.

At the time of its inception, it was the world's largest producer of alumina and aluminum. The group included more than 95% of all aluminum production in Russia, its strategy was based on the principle of increasing its market share, including through the constant acquisition of new assets, primarily abroad. To finance these goals, as well as to settle accounts with counterparties during the merger of the company, RUSAL actively borrowed funds secured by its assets.

By the beginning of 2009, Oleg Deripaska's company came up with a total debt to foreign investors in the amount of about 14 billion dollars. RUSAL owes 7.4 billion dollars to foreign creditors (the largest of them: BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, ING Bank, Calyon, Unicredit Group, Credit Suisse, Natixis, etc.), Russian - Sberbank, VTB and Gazprombank - about 2 billion. dollars, and the debt to VEB is 4.5 billion dollars.

A significant part of the debt to foreign and Russian investors is urgent, the repayment of previously taken loans according to the schedule should take place within the next year. At the same time, as a result of the financial crisis, there was a sharp decline in the value of UC RUSAL's assets. Many of the previously acquired foreign productions are now much cheaper than the price for which they were acquired by Oleg Deripaska's holding. As a result, the company can no longer raise funds against their security. Moreover, already now the value of assets is estimated as comparable to the size of the corporation's debt. The entrepreneur himself, due to changes in the market value of the assets owned by the company, lost about 88% of his fortune.

Until recently, experts called the partial nationalization of the company and the entry of the state into its capital as one of the possible strategies for RUSAL to get out of the financial crisis. However, on March 19, the leaders of the economic bloc in the Government of the Russian Federation refused direct assistance to the company.

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, in an interview with Bloomberg, said that the state would not restructure RUSAL's debt to creditors by entering the capital of this company. “They ask us if we are ready to help RUSAL by becoming its shareholder. We are not ready for today. Perhaps creditors expected to hear from us that we were ready to buy a share or restructure the debt. I told them that we should not wait for such statements, as we do not have such intentions. We do not plan to do this,” he said.

Igor Shuvalov also did not rule out that the corporation could pay off its debts to foreign creditors with its own shares. “This is a question between RUSAL and creditors. According to the current regulations, foreign companies must apply for permission from the state, and we will consider such applications immediately,” the Deputy Prime Minister noted.

Also on March 19, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that Russia does not plan to capitalize civilian enterprises, including RUSAL. “We do not plan to capitalize RUSAL,” he said, commenting on the cabinet meeting for the press.

In practice, this means that in the near future one of the largest companies in Russia, which includes 95% of the country's aluminum industry, may come under the control of foreign capital. And the reason for this is the policy of the company's management, which was overly carried away by borrowing in foreign markets, actually mortgaging its business to Western financial institutions.

Finding an exit

So far, RUSAL's main strategy in relation to its creditors is the desire to restructure the company's short-term debt into longer-term credit obligations. In mid-March, the company signed an agreement with a group of foreign banks, which allowed RUSAL to defer payments for several months. However, experts believe that if the aluminum price does not increase by 30% or more within the next six months, RUSAL will again have to face the problem of repayment of debts. It is possible that in this case the Russian corporation will still change ownership.

RUSAL also announced a program to improve business efficiency in the face of an economic downturn. In it, in addition to plans to reduce the production of alumina, it was said about reducing aluminum production by 11% of the total, reducing production costs by 34% by the end of the first half of the year, cutting management costs by 60% and reducing staff by 5% (about 900 people) .

As a result, the company reduced aluminum production in the first quarter of 2009 by 320 thousand tons, alumina production - by 3.45 million tons. In December 2008, UC RUSAL already announced a reduction in aluminum production by 180 thousand tons.

The total reduction in aluminum production will be 500 thousand tons.

From May 15, the company will suspend production at the Jamaican enterprise Alumina Partners of Jamaica, engaged in the extraction of bauxite and the production of alumina. This is not the first foreign asset that RUSAL closes or reduces production in connection with the financial crisis. Earlier, as part of a production optimization program, Jamaican Alpart reduced production by 59%, Aughinish in Ireland by 37%, and temporarily stopped production at the Italian plant Eurallumina and alumina Windalco in Jamaica.

At the same time, RUSAL is conducting a campaign to "improve production efficiency", which includes changing the terms of work with suppliers and reducing the production of aluminum at its own enterprises.

Thus, representatives of a number of industrial enterprises in the Urals have already stated that RUSAL is postponing payment terms for already produced goods and services, and also requires a reduction in payment for purchased equipment, and immediately by 20-50%. Thus, Andrey Besedin, General Director of CJSC Uralpromoborudovanie, said: “UC RUSAL owes us several tens of millions of rubles for products that they supplied about six months ago. In February, the company sent us a letter with a proposal to give them a 30% discount from August-September 2008 for the equipment already shipped and being in their operation. In this case, CJSC Uralpromoborudovaniye will be included in the first list of UC RUSAL's debt repayments; if I do not agree to these conditions, then I will be only in the sixth list. However, even if I agree to these conditions, when I will receive the money is unknown, the date of payment is not determined. At the same time, RUSAL says that it will pay off the debt in a single tranche. If I make a 20% discount, then, according to the company's assurances, it will be given in two tranches, but also with an unknown date,” A.Besedin said.

The end of Ural aluminum?

The difficulties experienced by Oleg Deripaska's transnational holding cannot but affect his Russian assets, including the Urals aluminum smelters. Until recently, the corporation stopped only plants and quarries located outside of Russia. But it is possible that the full-cycle production complex in the Urals, which RUSAL got when it took over SUAL in 2007, may become the first domestic victim of the crisis that has engulfed the company.

So, according to experts, the existence of one of the most problematic assets of RUSAL, the Severouralsky bauxite mine, the city-forming enterprise of the city of Severouralsk, which has recently been known mainly for mass protests by miners working there, may be in question first of all.

According to a number of experts, this enterprise was initially more of a burden for Oleg Deripaska's transnational company than a useful asset. The fact is that bauxite is mined at SUBR by the shaft method. The ore rises from a depth of more than a kilometer. The cost of bauxite mined in this way turns out to be one of the highest in the world, 5-10 times higher than raw materials mined by an open method - in quarries. Considering that RUSAL owns several large deposits of bauxite ore around the world, the economic feasibility of the existence of SUBR is not obvious. The fall in world prices for bauxite by 60% over the past year and a half also does not contribute to the growth of the value of this extremely expensive production.

Until recently, the main, if not the only reason why the company did not refuse to operate SUBR was the social situation in Severouralsk. The bauxite mine is the only major enterprise in the city, its stoppage would lead to a complete collapse of the local economic and social life. The constant social unrest of the mine's workers maintained the tension in relations between business and government, which forced RUSAL to continue to keep the enterprise afloat.

However, a sharp change in the economic situation in the world and real problems for RUSAL itself can be an excellent reason to rid the company of a “problematic” asset. It is possible that under the pretext of the crisis, Deripaska's corporation will try to refuse to continue operating SUBR and get rid of the enterprise in one way or another.

An option could be the separation of SUBR from the united company into a separate legal entity and sale for debts - either to foreign investors or to the state. As an independent business unit, the mine is unlikely to exist, but in this case, the blame for the destruction of production and the whole city will no longer lie with Oleg Deripaska and his team. It is obvious that the social problems of the inhabitants of the city in this case will be sacrificed for the survival of the metallurgical giant.

The flagships of the Ural aluminum industry, the Bogoslovsky aluminum smelter (the city-forming enterprise of the city of Krasnoturinsk) and the Ural aluminum smelter (Kamensk-Uralsky), may find themselves in a similar situation. According to experts, in the event of a sharp decline in aluminum production in Russia, these enterprises are the first candidates for stopping work. The reasons for this are also purely economic. Aluminum is not in vain called "frozen electricity" - more than half of its cost is the cost of electricity. The company's Siberian plants receive relatively cheap electricity from the largest hydropower plants in Siberia. Plants in the Sverdlovsk region are deprived of such advantages, the cost of finished aluminum is higher. In the event of a sharp reduction in production volumes in the company, it would be logical to assume that the least profitable production facilities will be closed first.

However, one should not forget about the subjective factor: Oleg Deripaska began to build his metallurgical empire from Siberian aluminum plants, primarily from the production facilities of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. These enterprises will always be closer and more significant for him than the Ural plants acquired as a result of the merger with the main competitor - SUAL - in 2007.

Rusal's top management, including CEO Alexandra Buriko, is resigning due to US sanctions. The statement was circulated on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. On May 24, 2018 reported about it in the press service of the company.

Buriko stepped down from her post on 23 May. The duties of the general director will be performed by 52-year-old Evgeny Nikitin. From June 28, members of the Board of Directors Vladislav Solovyov, Siegfried Wolf, Maxim Sokov, Dmitry Afanasyev, Gulzhan Moldazhanova, Olga Mashkovskaya and Ekaterina Nikitina will leave their posts.

The statement said that since April 2018, the company, acting in the interests of its creditors, shareholders and partners, has been in continuous discussion with the authorities in search of a way to ease the sanctions that were imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. It is noted that the sanctions will negatively affect metal production and sales, which may lead to a reduction in EBITDA and the group's cash flows.

Earlier, on April 6, the US Department of the Treasury imposed new sanctions on Russian individuals and legal entities, including several domestic billionaires and heads of corporations from the entourage of Russian President Vladimir Putin - Oleg Deripaska, Viktor Vekselberg, Igor Rotenberg, Kirill Shamalov, Alexei Miller. The list includes 26 people and 15 companies. The Finance Ministry attributed the new sanctions to the situation in Ukraine and Syria, as well as Russia's attempts to undermine "Western democracy."

The announcement of sanctions brought down the quotes of Deripaska-controlled Rusal, one of the world's largest aluminum producers, and called into question the company's performance of contracts and debt obligations. Later, the United States reported that restrictions on cooperation with Rusal under sanctions could be lifted if the businessman renounced control in the company.

A few days later, the board of directors of UC Rusal left the director for strategic projects of Renova, Maxim Goldman, and the executive director of ONEXIM, Daniel Wolf. Prior to them, the board of directors of UC Rusal left Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg and independent director Philip Lader.

Later, on May 18, Oleg Deripaska resigned from the board of directors of En+, the largest shareholder of UC Rusal. En+ said in a statement that the company's board of directors unanimously accepted Barker's plan by company chairman Gregory Barker to lift sanctions on En+ and its subsidiaries. The "Barker Plan" aims to reduce Deripaska's stake below 50% and end influence on the board by appointing new members.

A month after the introduction of sanctions, Rusal assessed their impact on its business as negative. On the eve it became known that VTB Bank stopped lending to Oleg Deripaska and companies controlled by him after they were included in the US sanctions list.

UC Russian Aluminum (UC RUSAL, United Company RUSAL) was formed in March 2007 as a result of the merger of Russian Aluminum and the Siberian-Ural Aluminum Company with the alumina assets of the Swiss Glencore, but in fact the history of the company began much earlier.

During the privatization of the early 1990s, the British firm Trans World Group (TWG) gained control of Russia's largest aluminum industry enterprises. TWG implemented the so-called tolling scheme in Russia, according to which an intermediary company financed the import of aluminum raw materials and its processing, paid for the operation of the plant, while becoming the owner of products made from this raw material.

By 2000, not without government support, the tolling scheme was abolished, Western traders were ousted from the market, and the country's main aluminum assets were concentrated under the control of the Russian Aluminum company, which combined aluminum and alumina smelters of the Siberian Aluminum company created by that time by Oleg Deripaska and owned by Roman Abramovich Millhouse Capital (later Roman Abramovich sold his shares to Oleg Deripaska).

Under the control of Russian Aluminum were the Bratsk and Krasnoyarsk aluminum smelters, the Achinsk alumina plant, bought out by Roman Abramovich from TWG, as well as the Sayan aluminum plant, on the basis of which Oleg Deripaska organized the first vertically integrated industrial company Siberian Aluminum in the post-Soviet space back in 1997. " (renamed "Basic Element" in 2001). Thus, about 70% of Russia's aluminum industry was concentrated within one company.

Most of the remaining 30% of the aluminum industry was produced by the Siberian-Ural Aluminum Company (SUAL) of Viktor Vekselberg, established in 1996 as a result of the merger of the share capital of the Irkutsk and Ural aluminum smelters. The SUAL group also included Bogoslovsky and a number of other aluminum plants.

It was on the basis of SUAL and RUSAL that the United Company Russian Aluminum was formed in 2007. The third participant in the merger was the Swiss mining company Glencore International AG, which contributed the Aughinish alumina refineries in Ireland, Windalco and Alpart in Jamaica, and the Kubikenborg aluminum smelter in Sweden to the combined company.

At present, the assets of UC RUSAL include the entire complex of enterprises involved in the chain of production of the final product - from mining plants to aluminum and foil-rolling plants.

RUSAL has 15 aluminum and 11 alumina smelters, eight bauxite mining plants, three powder production plants, two silicon production plants, two secondary aluminum production plants, four foil-rolling plants, two cryolite and one cathode plant.

RUSAL plants and representative offices are located in 13 countries on five continents. At the same time, the main production facilities of the company are located in Siberia.

The company's capacities allow to produce 4.5 million tons of aluminum, 11.5 million tons of alumina, 80 thousand tons of foil per year. The company accounted for about 8% of global aluminum production and 7% of global alumina production in 2013. Main sales markets: Russia and CIS countries, Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea. Key industries-consumers: transport, construction, packaging.

About 67 thousand people work at RUSAL enterprises.

UC RUSAL owns more than 27.8% of Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium and one of the largest producers of platinum and copper.

Together with the Kazakh holding Samruk, the company owns an enterprise to develop the Ekibastuz coal deposit.

RUSAL's shareholders are En+ (48.13%), ONEXIM Group (17.02%), SUAL Group shareholders (15.80%), Glencore-owned Amokenga Holdings (8.75%) and the company's management (0.26%) . 10.04% of the shares are in free float.

RUSAL's ordinary shares are traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (trading code 486), global depository shares are traded on the NYSE Euronext exchange in Paris (RUSAL/RUAL), RDRs (Russian Depositary Receipts) for RUSAL's shares are traded on MICEX-RTS (RUALR).

In the nine months of 2014, RUSAL increased its IFRS adjusted EBITDA by 1.6 times to $863 million from $550 million a year earlier. During the reporting period, RUSAL made a net profit of $11 million against a loss of $611 million a year earlier.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of UC RUSAL, independent non-executive director, managing director of Nord Stream AG - Matthias Warnig.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

RUSAL Corporation or Russian Aluminum is one of the largest Russian private companies. This corporation also actively interacts with partners representing countries of near and far abroad, and is one of the most powerful players in the corresponding segment of the world market. What is she releasing? Who owns and manages the company?

General information about the company

RUSAL is considered one of the largest enterprises in our country and the world's largest producer of aluminum and alumina. Legally, this company is registered on the island of Jersey, which belongs to the UK. The total capacity owned by the corporation is about 4.4 million tons, alumina - about 12.3 million tons. In the Russian market, in terms of revenue, RUSAL is second only to the largest oil and gas corporations.

Company history

RUSAL was founded in 2007 as a result of the merger of the assets of Russian enterprises - Russian Aluminum, SUAL, and the Swiss company Glencore. It can be noted that the symbols belonging to Russian Aluminum have been preserved in the new united corporation.

In fact, the structure of RUSAL Corporation includes factories founded in the early Soviet period. Thus, the first domestic aluminum plant was launched in the USSR in 1932 in the city of Volkhov. The company's electricity supplier was bauxite, which was also mined nearby. In 1933, a similar enterprise was launched in Zaporozhye, in the Ukrainian SSR. In the late 1930s, the development and mining of bauxite began, and, accordingly, the production of aluminum and alumina in the Urals: Soviet industrialists launched the Ural Aluminum Plant.

When the Great Patriotic War began, the plant in Zaporozhye was captured, Volkhovsky was under threat, so the Soviet industrialists decided to build new plants in the rear - in Krasnoturinsk and Novokuznetsk. After the war, the Soviet economy experienced a growing need for aluminum. New factories began to open in the regions of Eastern Siberia. In the 1960s, the world's largest aluminum factories opened in Krasnoyarsk and Bratsk. In order to provide these enterprises with alumina - at that time mainly imported, factories were built in Achinsk and Nikolaev.

In 1985, the Sayanogorsk aluminum smelter was opened in Khakassia. It can be noted that by the end of the 80s the USSR came out on top in the world in aluminum production. The country actively exported metal. The Sayanogorsk aluminum smelter greatly contributed to the growth of this industry. But soon after its opening in the USSR, certain difficulties began, perestroika, and then the collapse of the country.

The formation of the Russian Aluminum corporation was preceded by the period of inclusion in the world market of two other major players in the metallurgy market - Siberian Aluminum, as well as Sibneft, which also had aluminum assets. In 2000, these corporations merged their assets, as a result of which Russian Aluminum was formed. This corporation included the largest aluminum production plants in Russia and Ukraine.

Subsequently, the company began to actively expand its activities abroad. But the corporation also actively developed in the Russian market. So, in 2006, the Khakass aluminum plant was opened, also in Sayanogorsk. It can be noted that by 2007 Russian Aluminum controlled about 80% of the industry in its segment in Russia.

As for the other subject of the transaction, which resulted in the formation of the RUSAL corporation - the SUAL company, it can be noted that this corporation was founded in 1996 in Kamensk-Uralsky. In the course of its development, it was quite active in buying aluminum production enterprises - but, as a rule, relatively small ones. Also, this company acquired the Zaporozhye aluminum plant. In fact, by 2007, SUAL controlled that part of the market that did not belong to Russian Aluminum, that is, its share in the segment was about 20%.

But, anyway, in 2007, both companies merged, as a result of which RUSAL OJSC was formed.

The company during the crisis of 2008-2009

The corporation had to overcome rather large difficulties during the economic recession in Russia in 2008-2009. It is known that the company experienced difficulties with the repayment of loans. However, the corporation managed to cope with the problems. Between October and December 2009, RUSAL entered into a number of agreements with major banks, both Russian and foreign, to restructure debts in the amount of approximately USD 16.8 billion.

Who owns and manages the corporation?

It is helpful to look at the ownership structure of a corporation and how it has changed over time.

Until 2010, the En+ holding was the largest shareholder of the company, which was controlled by Oleg Deripaska. The next largest share of assets belonged to SUAL. The ONEXIM group, owned by Mikhail Prokhorov, owned the third largest stake in the corporation. Another major shareholder JSC "RUSAL" was the company Glencore.

In January 2010, the corporation carried out an IPO on the sites. During the trading process, the company managed to sell about 10.6% of its shares for 2.24 billion US dollars. All assets of the corporation were valued at about $21 billion. It can be noted that the main investors in the business were Vnesheconombank, as well as the Libyan Investment Authority fund, which represented Libya. These corporations purchased 3.15% and 1.43% of the securities of the Russian aluminum giant, respectively. After the IPO, the shares of the key shareholders of the enterprise changed somewhat - they decreased in accordance with the size of the package of assets sold to investors.

Now Oleg Deripaska's holding owns 48.13% of the shares of Russian Aluminum, Sual Partners owns 15.8% of the corporation's assets. ONEXIM Group owns 17.02% of the shares of Russian Aluminum. Glencore Corporation owns 8.75% of the assets of the Russian aluminum company. In the free trade regime, 10.04% of the company's shares are circulating. It can be noted that 0.26% of Russian Aluminum's securities belong to the company's management. At the same time, the general director of the corporation owns 0.23% of the company's shares.

Company management

Viktor Vekselberg has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors of RUSAL since the company was founded. In 2012, he announced his resignation. In October 2012, the Board of Directors of the corporation was headed by Matthias Warnig. The company's president is Oleg Deripaska. Vladislav Solovyov holds the position of General Director of Russian Aluminum.

The main activities of the corporation

Let's study in more detail what RUSAL does.

The main activity of the corporation, as we noted above, is the production of alumina and aluminum. Among the used schemes for organizing the production of the corporation is tolling, in which raw materials are imported from abroad, processed at the plants of Russian Aluminum, and the finished product is then transported abroad.

RUSAL is actively cooperating with other major corporations. For example, together with RAO "UES of Russia" it implemented a project for the construction of an aluminum plant with a capacity of about 600 thousand tons in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The corporation initiated the construction of many large enterprises in the industry. Consider which of them are key in the company's activities today.

RUSAL activities: factories

The factories of the enterprise can be classified into the following main categories:

Enterprises producing aluminum;

Alumina production plants;

Bauxite mining companies;

Foil factories.

At the same time, in each of the noted categories of plants there are both Russian and foreign firms.

Aluminum plants

The first plant for the production of aluminum in the USSR, as we noted above - Volkhovsky, was founded in 1932 and is still operating. Its capacity is not the largest, according to a number of sources - about 24 thousand tons, but nevertheless, this enterprise is a significant infrastructure facility of the company.

After Volkhovsky, in 1939, the Ural aluminum plant was launched in Kamensk-Uralsky. It also functions to this day, but now it is mainly engaged in the production of alumina.

Enterprises built during the Great Patriotic War - Novokuznetsk and Bogoslovsky aluminum smelters, opened, respectively, in 1943 and 1944. They also work successfully so far. produces mainly alumina, and also includes a foundry section. The company produces protectors made of aluminum, as well as its various alloys. The plant's capacity is about 960 thousand tons of alumina per year. Novokuznetsk plant continues to specialize in the production of aluminum.

The most powerful enterprise of RUSAL, belonging to the first category, is the Krasnoyarsk aluminum smelter. It has a capacity of about 1008 thousand tons. The Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant was founded in 1964 in Krasnoyarsk and is one of the key industrial centers in the corresponding segment of the Russian industry. RUSAL's second largest aluminum plant is located in Bratsk. It was founded in 1966. Its capacity is about 1006 thousand tons. The third largest RUSAL plant in the corresponding category is the Irkutsk aluminum plant. It was founded in 1962. The Irkutsk aluminum smelter has a capacity of about 529 thousand tons. This plant is located in Shelekhov.

Among the RUSAL enterprises that are supposed to be diversified is the Volgograd aluminum plant. On it, in particular, it is planned to expand the production of baked anodes. The Volgograd aluminum plant has the necessary infrastructure for the production of rolled products. Its foundry capacity is about 60 thousand tons per year.

Abroad, RUSAL has aluminum smelters in the Swedish city of Sundsvall, as well as in Nigerian Ikot Abasi.

Alumina plants

If we talk about RUSAL alumina refineries, then, as we noted above, Bogoslovsky and Ural aluminum plants, as well as plants in Achinsk and Boksitogorsk, are of the corresponding type.

Abroad, RUSAL's alumina production facilities are located in Nikolaev in Ukraine, Fria in Guinea, Gladstone in Australia, Oginish in Ireland, Portovesma in Italy, as well as Kirkwain and Mandeville in Jamaica.

Bauxite Mining Enterprises

The largest Russian bauxite mining enterprises owned by RUSAL are located in the Ukhta region, in Severouralsk, Belogorsk. Abroad - in Guiana's Georgetown, in Fria, as well as another Guinean city - Kindia.

Foil factories

The production of foil is carried out by the Russian enterprises of RUSAL, which are located in Sayanogorsk, Dmitrov and Mikhailovsk. There is a large foil plant, the second largest of all that belongs to Russian Aluminum, in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan.

It can be noted that the corporation's assets include enterprises that produce not only aluminum itself, but also, in particular, aluminum alloys and foil. The corporation owns factories that form a complete production chain - from mining plants to factories for the production of rolled products. This feature of the organization of production allows the company to achieve the highest quality products. Russian aluminum is valued in the world largely for its high quality.

The corporation's key production facilities are located in Siberia, which, on the one hand, gives the company an opportunity to gain access to the natural resources of the region, and, on the other hand, brings its infrastructure closer to one of the largest aluminum consumers, China.

Business development prospects

We will study what are the prospects for the development of the business that the Russian aluminum company is building. According to experts, RUSAL is trying to optimize the output of its products, taking into account the changing demand in the world market. Thus, the focus is supposed to be on the production of products with high added value. RUSAL is building a highly efficient production facility in Eastern Siberia that will enable the company to deliver metal to customers when demand rises.

RUSAL owns huge reserves of raw materials, has its own infrastructure for scientific and technical developments, which can help optimize product output and reduce its cost. Another important task of RUSAL is to create an energy base that will allow increasing the level of autonomy of production by generating its own electricity. In this direction, the corporation is cooperating with RusHydro within the framework of the Boguchanskaya HPP construction project.

RUSAL is also actively developing international relations, both in the near and far abroad. Russian Aluminum is an active participant in the development of the Russian market in the relevant segment.

The company initiated the formation of the Aluminum Association, which, according to experts, plays a significant role in overcoming the economic downturn at the current stage of development of the national economy of Russia. The capabilities of the corporation are of great importance in terms of restoring the performance of the corresponding segment of the Russian economy and its successful development.

The world's largest producer of aluminum and alumina, was established in March 2007 as a result of the merger of Rusal, which ranked third in the world in aluminum production, SUAL Group, which was one of the ten largest world aluminum producers, and the alumina assets of the Swiss company Glencore.

The company includes enterprises for the extraction of bauxite and nepheline ore, the production of alumina, aluminum and alloys, foil and packaging materials based on it, as well as energy assets. More than 75 thousand people work at the company's enterprises on five continents in 19 countries.

• Until March 2007, Russian Aluminum (RUSAL) was the largest Russian aluminum company, the third largest aluminum producer in the world (10% of the world's metal production). The headquarters is in Moscow. Full name - Open Joint Stock Company Russian Aluminum.

Information technologies in Rusal

A separate article is devoted to the development of information technologies at Rusal's factories.

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2018

After the transaction, they will own a 26.5% stake in Rusal, that is, a blocking stake, Vedomosti writes.

The amount of the transaction is not called.

Mikhail Prokhorov in different years owned from 14% to 17% of the shares of Rusal. In 2017, he sold 7% of the shares to Vekselberg and Blavatnik.

2017

The shares of the aluminum holding UC Rusal owned by Mikhail Prokhorov were transferred to Viktor Vekselberg

In August 2017, Zonoville Investments Limited bought out 7 percent of the shares of UC Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer, from Mikhail Prokhorov's structures. The beneficiaries of Zonoville Investments Limited are several shareholders of another large minority shareholder of the aluminum holding, SUAL Partners, including the main owner of Renova, Viktor Vekselberg. It is Vekselberg who is named as the buyer's guarantor in the announcement of the deal, while Mikhail Prokhorov acts as the seller's guarantor.

The cost of a 7% stake in UC Rusal is set at $503.885 million. At the same time, at the time of publication of information about the transaction, 7 percent of UC Rusal shares were worth $714 million on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The average cost of the package over the past six months is 482 million dollars.

The search for buyers for the UC Rusal (17.02 percent) stake belonging to him in Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim began in the summer of 2016. In negotiations with SUAL Partners, the possibility of buying 12 percent of the shares for $700 million was discussed. But while negotiations were underway, the situation changed: in the summer of 2016, UC Rusal's quotes were close to historical lows, but the company's capitalization almost doubled over the year and today stands at $10.3 billion. Onexim was not ready to sell securities at last year's price. As a result, 3.32 percent of UC Rusal was sold on the stock exchange in February for $240 million. After the current deal, Onexim's stake in the aluminum holding will be reduced to 6.7 percent.

2016: Prokhorov sells 12% of UC Rusal for $700 million to the company of Vekselberg and Blavatnik

In October 2016, it became known that Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim would sell 12% of UC Rusal for $700 million. The stake was bought out by the co-owner of the company, Sual Partners Viktor Vekselberg and Leonard Blavatnik.

Onexim began looking for a buyer for a stake in UC Rusal after the FSB conducted searches at the head office of the company in early June 2016. Later, the FSB reported that this was due to the Tavrichesky bank, which is sanitizing the IFC controlled by Onexim. But sources close to the owner of Onexim, Prokhorov, and federal officials said that the searches were an act of intimidation: the Kremlin was dissatisfied with the editorial policy of the RBC media holding owned by Onexim. After that, Vedomosti sources reported that Prokhorov was going to sell Russian assets. Based on the fact of negotiations, it is incorrect to draw a conclusion about the "sale of all assets in Russia". No “decisions on this topic have been made by us” - this is how Onexim CEO Dmitry Razumov reacted to this information. Nevertheless, in July 2016, Onexim sold a 20% stake in Uralkali to Belarusian businessman Dmitry Lobyak. The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

“We want to increase our stake [in UC Rusal]. It's reasonable, it's natural. We have been with this company since the very beginning. We believe in this company. We see its great potential,” Vekselberg told Rossiya 24 on October 26. He added that the deal would close soon.

For approximately 12% of the existing 17% stake in UC Rusal, Onexim will receive about $700 million, according to three sources close to different parties to the upcoming deal. Thus, the share of Sual Partners will grow from 15.8% to 27.8%. En + Oleg Deripaska at this time controls 48.13% of UC Rusal.

The deal could be closed by the end of November, says a source close to one of the shareholders of UC Rusal. VTB and Sberbank will provide funds to buy out the package, but the size of the loan has not yet been determined, he adds. Earlier, Vedomosti's interlocutors said that Sberbank had already approved financing for $350 million for Sual Partners. But it is not certain that Sberbank will eventually participate in the deal, says a source close to Sberbank. Until recently, the Onexim package was pledged under a repo deal with VTB, but later the bank announced that the size of the package would be reduced from 17.02% to 13.16%.

The price of $700 million for 12% implies a premium to the current market price of 17.3%. If aluminum, which is currently trading near $1,600 per 1 ton (about 6% below annual highs), starts to rise in price, then UC Rusal may cost more and then it cannot be said that this is a very good premium, says the manager of an investment fund that invests, among other things, in papers of metallurgical companies.

But so far there are no special prerequisites for the growth of metal prices - in China there is still an excess of it, the source notes.

At the same time, Onexim will have time to receive $42.55 million in dividends from UC Rusal, the second in almost six years. On October 25, 2016, creditors allowed UC Rusal to pay $250 million in interim dividends. The registry closed on October 3rd. Payments are scheduled to end on October 31st. The same amount - $42.55 million - Onexim received from UC Rusal in 2015.

Sual Partners buys 12% of UC Rusal to keep the shareholder agreement. According to it, the share of Onexim should not fall below 5%. In addition, such a package allows him to nominate one candidate to the board of directors of Norilsk Nickel, which UC Rusal will be obliged to nominate. Until the summer of 2010, Razumov was such a candidate. Afterwards, representatives of Onexim were not elected to the council. In addition, the purchase of the entire share would lead Sual Partners to make an offer to the remaining shareholders of UC Rusal. If you buy 12%, this will not be required.

In March 2012, Viktor Vekselberg, due to disagreements with the company's management, resigned as chairman and member of the board of directors of Rusal.