March 28, 2007	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 8, 1428

MOSCOW, March 27: Russian aluminium producers Rusal and Sual together with Switzerland's Glencore said on Tuesday that they had merged to form the world's number one aluminium producer.

The new entity will be 66-per cent owned by Rusal's shareholders, 22 per cent by those of Sual and 12-per cent owned by those of Glencore.

Called United Company Rusal, it is to be headed by former Rusal chief executive Alexander Bulygin, with the role of non-executive chairman given to former Sual chairman Viktor Vekselberg, the new entity said in a statement.

Under the deal, former Rusal chairman Oleg Deripaska becomes the new group's main shareholder.

“The new company has pro forma sales of approximately $12 billion (nine billion euros). The group's production capacity totals approximately four million tonnes of aluminium and one million tonnes of alumina,” the statement said.

“Our goal is to become an international metals and energy corporation providing leadership in new areas of business,” it quoted Bulygin as saying.

The tie-up, one of the biggest in Russian corporate history, received the go-ahead earlier from both Russian anti-monopoly regulators and from EU competition authorities. The combined company “combines four bauxite mines, 10 alumina refineries, 14 aluminium smelters and three foil mills.—AFP