Rusal Plans Hong Kong IPO as City Widens Listings Net

United Co. Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer, applied to sell shares on Hong Kong’s exchange as the city widens efforts to draw foreign listings.

Moscow-based Rusal would be the only Russian company with shares trading in Hong Kong, based on data from the exchange’s 2008 annual report. Rusal will offer investors a 10 percent stake, a person familiar with the matter said yesterday.

Billionaire Oleg Deripaska, Rusal’s controlling shareholder, is selling stock to help pay back more than $14 billion owed to creditors. Companies raised HK$101 billion ($13 billion) this year in Hong Kong IPOs, 60 percent more than the whole of last year, as the financial crisis abates and investors seek to benefit from China’s stimulus spending.

“It shows that companies view the liquidity in Hong Kong as very attractive,” said Andrew Sullivan, a sales trader at Mainfirst Securities Hong Kong Ltd.

Shares of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. rose 1.5 percent to close at HK$136.80, taking the year’s gains to 86 percent. The benchmark Hang Seng index is up 45 percent.

“The Stock Exchange doesn’t make announcements on behalf of companies regarding their listing plans and schedules,” Scott Sapp, a spokesman, said in an e-mail.

Hong Kong ranked as No. 2 globally for funds raised through initial public offerings in the first half of this year, after Brazil, according to data released by the city’s bourse.

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