UC Rusal’s IPO has gotten some of my fellow minority shareholders very worked up. My article in Vedomosti yesterday stirred them up even more. And today’s spectacular flop in the first open trading session on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is downright dazzling. This little “oops” suggests that the widely circulating rumors — that a Rothschild fund took part in the IPO using Rusal’s own money in order to prop up the stock — may well have some basis. There is every reason to believe that they are about to start rescuing Deripaska again, this time through direct purchases via Sberbank and VTB. Personally, I’m kind of against it. My article on the subject at SLON.ru:
Deripaska’s LifelineIt is not hard to imagine what will happen if Deripaska’s relations with the authorities go sour. Read the article Right now, together with a group of Sberbank and VTB shareholders, we are finalizing the text of a statement that we will send to the banks’ management. On Friday, there will be a meeting of Sberbank’s minority shareholders committee, where I will also raise the issue that this money is being wasted. I very much hope that Sber’s Supervisory Board will consider these issues properly and openly, rather than just stupidly pulling out bundles of cash from their chests.