A few contrarian souls may actually have believed that Rusal's initial public offering (IPO), when it finally happened, would be a run-of-the-mill affair. Absolutely not. The Hong Kong debut of Russia's aluminium empire was a cliffhanger all the way to the first day of trading - when the share price promptly went over said cliff. That it succeeded at all is a measure of the company's adamantine determination.
Ever since Rusal emerged from the gory aluminium wars of the 1990s as the industry's dominant regional power, bankers have been running their slide rules over its flotation potential. Serious IPO talk has ebbed and flowed around the company since 2005, when tentative plans for a London listing were aborted. A more concrete attempt in 2007 was scrapped as the credit crunch took hold. This followed the merger of Rusal with Russian rival Sual and the alumina interests of Glencore - a deal which included a commitment to float within three years.
