MOSCOW (Mineweb.com) --Russian Aluminium (Rusal), a company owned by Oleg Deripaska and proposing to become the world's largest aluminium producer, is cutting its links to the acquisition of Nigeria's aluminium smelter, which Rusal announced publicly it was buying last February. That deal is being challenged by a rival bidder for the smelter, BFI Group of California (BFIG), which has gone to the Nigerian federal appeals court, and to the federal US District Court in New York, charging that it has been illegally and corruptly excluded from the Nigerian government's privatization award of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) to Rusal. The 32-page claim by BFIG was filed in the US on March 16.
In a subsequent 2-page filing in the New York court, obtained by Mineweb, John Martin Parker identified himself as the sole director of Dayson Holding Limited, a limited liability company registered in Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands, which he says actually holds the interest in ALSCON. According to Parker, Dayson conducts no business in New York, and has no premises, bank accounts, or employees in New York. It had also not been served with the court claim documents lodged by BFIG.
BFIG has told Mineweb that Rusal used Dayson as a cutout, through which Rusal bought the control shareholding in ALSCON from the Nigerian government; and that in the British Virgin Islands Dayson has no known employees and conducts no active business.
In order to avoid a US court trial of the BFIG suit, Parker claims that Dayson is "an indirect subsidiary of Rusal (Jersey)", but in no other way connected to the Rusal group, or its US companies listed as defendants in the BFIG claim. Without admitting that Dayson is the legal owner of the ALSCON smelter, Parker testified that the US court should have no jurisdiction over the action.
BACKGROUND
On February 3, in a posting on the corporate website, Rusal said "it has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire a majority stake in the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in Akwa Ibom from the Nigerian Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). The $250 million transaction will add almost 150,000 tonnes annually to RUSAL's aluminium production capacity. According to the terms of the deal, RUSAL has received a 77.5% block of shares in ALSCON, a 193,000-tonne smelter (reduction, anode-producing and casthouse areas), a port on the Imo River and a power-generating station. Germany's Ferrostaal AG and the Government of Nigeria remain minority shareholders with 7.5% and 15% blocks respectively. The $250 million purchase price will cover the purchase of the shares in ALSCON, as well as the dredging of the river. The company, together with Ferrostaal AG and the Government of Nigeria, also plans to invest an additional $150 million over the next three years to complete, refurbish and modernise ALSCON."
The announcement also quoted Rusal chief executive Alexander Bulygin as saying: "The acquisition is part of our strategy to boost aluminium production and strengthen RUSAL's position as a global company. With its technologies and expertise, RUSAL will ensure that ALSCON's products are highly competitive, transforming the smelter in a key driver behind the development of the Nigerian economy and our business in the region. Having now become one of the largest investors in Nigeria, we are ready to actively contribute to the industrial growth in the country."
"We are very pleased that RUSAL is committed to this project, which is vitally important to Nigeria and the people of Ikot Abasi in particular," the website quoted BPE General Director Irene Chigbue. "I hope that the successful divestiture of ALSCON to one of the world's largest aluminium producers will send a strong signal to the international community and persuade those investors that are wavering to invest in Nigeria."
The announcements left no doubt that it was Rusal which was taking over ALSCON, with current smelter cap
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