OREANDA-NEWS. December 24, 2010. UC RUSAL (SEHK: 486, EuroNext: RUSAL/RUAL), the world’s largest aluminium producer, announces it has appointed Sberbank of Russia (“Sberbank”) as the issuer of and “VTB Capital” (“VTB”) as the financial advisor to the company’s Russian Depository Receipts (“RDRs”) programme.

The RDRs programme is aimed at improving the attractiveness of and access to RUSAL’s shares for the extensive Russia-focused investor base that was unable to participate in the company’s listing of its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (“HKEx”). RUSAL became the first Russian company to list its shares on HKEx in January 2010.

The shares underlying the RDRs will be ordinary shares of the company listed on the HKEx. The maximum size of the programme will correspond to 100% of the company’s authorized share capital, which currently consists of 20 billion ordinary shares. The RDRs issued under the programme would have no nominal value.

Oleg Mukhamedshin, RUSAL’s Director for Capital Markets, said: “We are both honoured and delighted to be the first Russian company to issue RDRs. The RDR programme is another strategic step in our plan to increase market awareness of RUSAL and to further extend our investor base. Given the broad, global interest in RUSAL’s shares from investors, we expect this programme to increase RUSAL’s investment attractiveness and enhance the company’s value to the benefit of all its shareholders.”

The programme remains subject to approval by the Supervisory Board of Sberbank, registration by the Russian Federal Service for the Financial Markets (“FSFM”) and compliance with other applicable laws and regulations and the applicable listing rules. The programme is to be filed for registration with the FSFM.