RUSSIAN ALUMINIUM giant Rusal, which owns Aughinish Alumina in Limerick, is to commence an initial public offering, having reached agreement with creditors on the refinancing of $7.4 billion (€4.9 billion) of loans.

The company is to be listed on the Hong Kong and Paris stock exchanges. Latest accounts for the company’s Irish division show that operating losses at Rusal Aughinish last year topped $40 million, in spite of the company increasing turnover by 25 per cent to $664 million. It recorded a pretax loss of $37.3 million in 2008 after securing a pretax profit of $614,000 in 2007.

Staff at the Limerick plant were placed on shorter working hours earlier this year in response to a drop in demand and price for aluminium and alumina.

Aughinish Alumina is the largest alumina refinery in Europe and the largest of the nine alumina facilities operated by Rusal.