Companies controlled by Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok (郭鶴年) and Nathaniel Rothschild may buy shares in United Co Rusal’s US$2 billion Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), three people familiar with the plan said.
Paulson & Co, the New York hedge fund run by billionaire John Paulson, and the Russian state-owned development bank Vnesheconombank also may be among so-called “cornerstone” investors guaranteed stocks in an IPO in exchange for a pledge not to sell them for a number of months, the people said.
They declined to be identified because the information is private.
Kuok and companies in the Kuok Group he founded may invest in Rusal as cornerstones, the people said.
“It certainly helps when investors of that sort of caliber express interest,” said Kenny Tang (鄧聲興), an analyst at Redford Securities Co (鴻福證券) in Hong Kong. “It’ll be great for Rusal’s IPO if these investors can convince other investors that they’re in it for the long run and not just looking for a quick profit.”
Billionaire Oleg Deripaska is trying to secure investors for the IPO, which will make Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer, the first Russian company to list in Hong Kong. Vnesheconombank may buy as much as a 3 percent stake, while other state-run lenders also may buy Rusal shares.
BlackRock Inc, the world’s largest asset manager, has expressed interest in buying shares in the offering, though it wouldn’t invest as a cornerstone, one of the people said.
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd and the city’s Securities and Futures Commission said Rusal will be excluded from offering stock to retail investors when it approved the company’s IPO application earlier this month.
Rusal’s board approved a price that valued the company at US$16 billion to US$22 billion, the people said, declining to name a price per share.
The company is worth US$21.1 billion to US$26.7 billion, Bank of China International Holdings Ltd, one of the IPO’s arrangers, said in a report. Rusal, which booked US$5.95 billion of losses last year, may post a full-year profit of US$505 million this year, the bank said.
The Hong Kong exchange’s listing committee withheld approval for Rusal’s IPO application twice as it sought more information, including details of a debt restructuring. Earlier this month, Rusal signed a US$17 billion accord with creditors in Russia’s largest corporate debt restructuring.
“On the other hand, it could be that they’re only attracted to the IPO because of the potentially lower price after all the negative publicity recently,” Tang said.
Rothschild, 38, a Rothschild banking family member and co-chairman of New York hedge fund firm Atticus Capital LP, is a friend and an adviser to Deripaska.
Rothschild and Deripaska became front-page news in the UK last year when Rothschild wrote in a letter to the London-based Times newspaper that George Osborne, finance spokesman for Britain’s Conservative opposition, sought a donation for his party from Deripaska. Osborne subsequently gave up fund-raising for the party.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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