Rusal, the Russian aluminium titan, today unveiled long-awaited plans to raise more than HK$20 billion (£1.6 billion) in a flotation in Hong Kong, but admitted that it had failed the “profit test” for listing on the exchange’s Main Board.
The warning to would-be investors, which appeared prominently on the first page of the 1,100-page prospectus in red ink, is expected to heighten concern about the financial stability of the company, controlled by Oleg Deripaska, the controversial billionaire.
The company plans to raise the money to help to reduce its crippling levels of debt — obligations that Hong Kong investors said today made the company an “undoubtedly high-risk” investment.
The prospectus also reveals the Hong Kong stock exchange’s motives for allowing the listing to go ahead: