Russia’s richest man, Oleg Deripaska, on Sunday gave his strongest indication yet that he intends to float his multibillion-dollar aluminum business in China rather than on the London Stock Exchange.
Deripaska — who enjoys a close friendship with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin — denied that the political row between Britain and Russia had led him to dump plans to hold a flotation in London.
“There is no connection,” he said.
But Deripaska said that his United Company RusAl, the world’s largest aluminum producer, was likely to be listed in Hong Kong.
“It would give us a more comfortable solution,” he said.
China offered a better business climate than Britain, he suggested, adding that the Chinese “train” is “driven by entrepreneurs who know what to do over the next 10 years.”
Although business between Russia and Britain continues to thrive, Deripaska acknowledged that investing in the UK had been made more difficult by the diplomatic feud that has raged since the 2006 murder of Alexander Litvinenko.
“It’s like stepping on a rake,” he joked.
London has attracted many listings from Russian companies in recent years and celebrated the 100th Russian firm to float last week.
But Deripaska also conceded that listing in Hong Kong offered fewer “legal” difficulties than the London Stock Exchange.
It is still not clear when RusAl’s initial public offering will take place — it has been subject to repeated delays after high court claims by one of Deripaska’s former partners.
Deripaska is Russia’s richest tycoon, with a US$28.6 billion fortune, according to this month’s edition of Forbes Russia.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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