But Rusal has come back to the market and is now laden with debts of US$16.8 billion, largely as a result of the decline in commodity prices.

Aluminium hit a peak of about US$330 per tonne in the middle of last year before crashing to US$130 at the beginning of this year. It has rallied to about US$190 per tonne.

The company has been involved in elaborate and complex negotiations with banks to restructure its debt, and there was concern the effort would not be finalised in time to list this year. But Deripaska said the debt restructuring would not hold back the listing.

'It is almost done,' he told the South China Morning Post. 'We are just going through the bank procedures. We have more than 70 banks and expect to sign the deal by the end of November. We are ahead of where we expected to be at this time.'

Deripaska said that after scrutinising the company's finances, some bankers who had previously been worried by their exposure to Rusal now regarded their loans to the company as among the best in their portfolio.

In addition to Rusal's debts, observers have been concerned at press reports that Deripaska has been refused a visa to enter the United States for alleged links to organised crime. He has visited the US twice this year, although on a restricted visa, according to reports.

Deripaska maintained he had no restrictions on his travel. But he added that the restriction by the US Department of State was based on a mistake and that it was reluctant to admit it.

Deripaska's court case has also made some potential investors wary. He is being sued in a London court by Michael Cherney, who claims he is owed some US$4.5 billion for a stake in Rusal, which he says was being held in trust by Deripaska.

'That has nothing to do with Rusal,' Deripaska said. 'It can't be a distraction. This is all crap. What he is trying to do resembles blackmail. A lot of people are jealous but I don't care. I am not working for money.'

Reports that long-time adviser Goldman Sachs would not be part of the IPO team raised eyebrows around the investment community. Finance executives noted that it doesn't look good when bankers walk away from a deal.

But Deripaska said that while Goldman had a role from its previous commitment, it was never part of the current team, although it had been bidding along with other banks.

'That was a serious process when we were choosing the banks and finally decided it would be Credit Suisse and BNP, and we don't need many sponsors. But we maintain a good relationship with Goldman and they are a good company.'

The Rusal IPO is regarded as a something of a coup by the Hong Kong stock exchange, which in recent years has been trying to diversify away from its dependence on China for new listings. Officials are keen for the listing to succeed since they hope it will attract other companies from Russia. These sentiments were echoed by Deripaska, who said other Russian companies in the metals, building materials and energy sectors could follow if the Rusal listing was successful. He said he would be looking at listing other firms from his holding company Basic Element.

Deripaska said Rusal was considering a listing in Hong Kong to demonstrate its commitment to the region and show customers it intended to be around for the long term.

'This is where most commodities are being consumed,' he said.

The production of aluminium requires high amounts of electricity, and Deripaska said that countries such as Japan, Taiwan and Korea that used to produce aluminium gave up because of the high use of energy.

Rusal's energy costs are lower than other producers as it uses hydroelectric power, which is cheaper and cleaner than electricity produced by coal-fired power stations. Rusal's cost of electricity has dropped by a third since last year.

Rusal believes it can offer its major customers significant amounts of metal for periods as long as seven years at stable prices. The company recently signed a long-term agreement with China-based Norinco and was looking at a number of other deals in China and elsewhere in Asia. Deripaska said this would help avoid the kind of situation that occurred earlier this year when many companies had run down their stocks on fears that global demand would collapse. But when demand turned out to be stronger than expected many firms were unable to obtain stocks.

While aluminium prices are generally US$50 to US$70 a tonne higher than the benchmark London Metal Exchange price, earlier this year prices soared to a premium of US$120 to US$150 per tonne.

Deripaska also noted that although most of the demand was in Asia, most of the world's metal trading took place in London.

'It should come back to Asia because commodities is about physical demand and supply, not paper,' he said. 'Paper creates a lot of speculation, sometimes very unfair as we have seen in the past few months.'

Rusal planned to increase its competitiveness by cutting costs and forming joint ventures, he said.

'One reason ... why we are considering listing in Hong Kong is ... to attract more partners from this region who are interested in developing new projects with us.'

Currently 49 per cent of Rusal's sales go to Europe, 14 per cent to China, 12 per cent to the US, 7 per cent to South Korea, 6 per cent to Japan and 3 per cent elsewhere in Asia.