Deripaska clear to cross borders for Rusal listing
We understand our old friend Oleg Deripaska (below) will be in town to get a ringside seat for his company's stock exchange debut tomorrow.
We expect he will be watching with a degree of relief since, as readers will no doubt be aware, his company is the Russian aluminium company Rusal and it has had some difficulty in getting listed. So treble vodkas all round perhaps.
We were, however, a little surprised to hear that he was in the United States last week to promote his company to investors. He has been denied entrance there in the past because of alleged connections to organised crime and the US press said his trips to the country in the summer were on a restricted visa.
The company's listing document notes: 'There can be no assurance that he will be granted permission to enter the United States, Canada or any other country in future.'
But he is not the first boss of a Hong Kong-listed company to be denied access to another country. Anyway, none of the Rusal directors will have trouble entering Hong Kong. The listing document, perhaps unusually, also notes that 'all directors have confirmed they possess valid travel documents to visit Hong Kong for business purposes'.