UC Rusal is courting cornerstone investors for its landmark Hong Kong initial public offering, having met a year-end deadline to proceed with one of the territory's most controversial and complex listings in years.
The heavily indebted aluminium group, controlled by Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire, hopes to raise at least $2bn next month in what would be the first listing by a Russian company in the Chinese special administrative region.
Potential cornerstone investors include Malaysian Chinese billionaire Robert Kuok, banking scion Nathaniel Rothschild, and Paulson & Co, a New York hedge fund. However, people close to the process warned that discussions were continuing.