Onexim group sells off 3% stake in Rusal

Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim group has sold a 3.32 per cent stake in Rusal, one of the world’s largest aluminium producers, on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The sale netted Onexim $240m, according to Renaissance Capital, an Onexim-run investment bank that co-organised the sale. The stock sold at HK$3.7, a discount of 9 per cent to the price on the Hong Kong exchange, after books were extended by an hour on Monday.

Rusal’s share price dropped to HK$3.92 on initial trading Tuesday, a decline of more than 4 per cent.

Mr Prokhorov, whose stake is now 13.7 per cent, had initially planned to sell as much as 12 per cent of the company to fellow oligarchs Viktor Vekselberg and Leonid Blavatnik year but changed his mind after the price of aluminium went up by 24 per cent in 2016, according to a Rusal executive.

Rusal, whose chief executive Oleg Deripaska owns 48 per cent, has turned to capital markets twice this year on the back of the increase. Last month, it raised $600m in its first ever Eurobond.

In February, it sent a prospectus for a seven-year $1.5bn renminbi-denominated issuance that would mark the first ever “panda bond” in mainland China from a Russian firm.

“The aluminium price has increased and the company can do a lot more to further increase its stock liquidity and profile with investors”, said Dmitry Brodsky, head of ECM at Renaissance Capital.

“We believe a potential SPO, in case it takes place, would further increase the company’s market capitalisation and be beneficial for its stakeholders.