Rusal may buy controlling stake in Nalco
Moscow: Russian $4-billion aluminium company Russian Aluminium (Rusal) will bid aggressively to buy a controlling stake in National Aluminium Company India (Nalco), whenever the government begins divests its stake in the company in favour of a strategic investor. Rusal CEO Alexandre S Boulygine said Rusal is planning to acquire Nalco for its huge deposits of ores as part of its expansion plans. Rusal, the world's second-largest aluminium producer, is planning to raise its primary aluminium production capacity by 6 lakh tonnes from the existing 2.5 million tonnes per year to over 3 million tonnes in the next five years. Rusal was created in 2000 out of the merger of Russia's major aluminium producers and a number of plants located in the Commonwealth of Independent States. It is a vertically integrated company with a complete cycle from mining ores, production of primary metal, semi-products and aluminium-based end products. It produces 75 per cent of Russia's primary aluminium output and 10 per cent of the global primary aluminium output. Its main smelters Sratsk Aluminium Smelter, Krasnoyarsk Aluminium Smelter, Sayanogorsk Aluminium Smelter and Novokuzenetsk Aluminium Smelter are located in Siberia, besides its mining and refinery facilities there.
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EU ministers seek transport projects
Naples: Transport ministers from 27 European countries have urged the European Union to rapidly adopt proposals for big transport projects aimed at boosting the bloc’s competitively as it enlarges east and southward. Their call dovetailed with an Italian idea to revive sluggish European growth through investment in infrastructure via European Investment Bank (EIB) bonds a proposal that has rekindled interest in the so-called Trans-European Networks (TENs). Europe has a gaping need for better transport links and Italy is saying investment in infrastructure can improve growth. The two points go together very well, said EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio after talks in the southern Italian city of Naples. EU experts last week unveiled a list of transport priorities needing billions of euros of funding.
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