KUALA LUMPUR: Robert Kuok plans to pay about US$20 million for 14.3 million shares in Russia's UC RUSAL --  world's largest aluminium maker - which is undertaking an initial public offer in Hong Kong to raise as much as US$2.6 billion.

According to Reuters on Thursday, Dec 31, the IPO attracted a list of big name investors including Nathaniel Rothschild's private investment company; Kuok who is said to be worth around US$10 billion; and Paulson & Co., the New York hedge fund run by billionaire John Paulson.

Rothschild and Paulson are each committing to buy 71 million shares, paying in the range of US$50 million to US$100 million, according to the prospectus which is 1,141 pages.

The reports said Rusal, had for the first time, also disclosed key financial information to the public, showing a brutal first half of 2009.

RUSAL, the, plans to offer 1.6 billion shares at a range of HK$9.10 to HK$12.50 each, with a listing date of Jan. 27.

The IPO is a major achievement for the Russian company, which is trying to raise cash to repay US$14.9 billion in debt, and a big step for Hong Kong, which is trying to attract more publicly listed companies from beyond Asia.

The process has been slow, as Hong Kong regulators rarely review IPOs of large companies outside of Asia, never mind a Russian company like RUSAL which has run into legal snags. The listing of RUSAL in Hong Kong would be one of the first major listings of a non-Asian company here and would be the first ever Hong Kong-Paris dual listing.

Privately held RUSAL said in its IPO prospectus that it posted a US$868 million loss for the six months ended June 30 compared to a profit of US$1.41 billion in the year ago period.

The company forecast a full-year profit for 2009 of "not less than US$434 million."

Total revenues for 2008 were US$15.69 billion, according to the company, up more than US$2 billion from the previous year. Revenues by mid year 2009 hit US$3.76 billion compared with US$8.35 billion in the year ago period.

The IPO attracted a list of big name investors including Nathaniel Rothschild's private investment company; Robert Kuok Hock Nien, a Malaysian-Chinese businessman said to be worth around US$10 billion; and Paulson & Co., the New York hedge fund run by billionaire John Paulson.

Rothschild and Paulson are each committing to buy 71 million shares, paying in the range of US$50 million to US$100 million. Kuok plans to pay around US$20 million for 14.3 million shares, the prospectus says.

RUSAL plans to start pre-marketing of the IPO on Jan. 5, with a roadshow starting on Jan. 11 and pricing on Jan. 21.

BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse are the joint sponsors and global coordinators.

The joint bookrunners are BofA-Merrill, BOCI, Nomura Holdings , Renassiance Capital, Sberbank and VTB Capital, with Rothschild acting as the financial advisor.