One of the world’s largest aluminum companies, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, has shown interest in the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant (MAP), which was nationalized from Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska. This was disclosed by Dmytro Natalukha, head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, in an interview with LIGA.net.
He did not name the potential investor, but noted that it is a major public company specializing specifically in the aluminum business. According to market sources, among aluminum producers listed on the NYSE, the most likely bidder could be US-based Alcoa.
According to Natalukha, representatives of the State Property Fund have already held talks with the potential investor in London. At the same time, he stressed that public international corporations are far more cautious about investing in Ukraine because of the ongoing war.
“They are large and public, so the chances that they will ultimately decide to enter the Ukrainian jurisdiction during the war are significantly lower than in the case of private companies,” the head of the State Property Fund said.
Earlier, the State Property Fund said that the main obstacle to the sale of the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant is not the company’s debt obligations, but war-related risks. The agency is seeking to attract a strategic foreign investor that could provide additional protection for the asset due to its international status. Among the countries seen as potentially interested were the United States and India.
Before the full-scale war, the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant was one of the key enterprises in Ukraine’s aluminum industry and the main supplier of raw materials to businesses of Russia’s Rusal group, controlled by Oleg Deripaska. The plant produced alumina, the main raw material used in aluminum production.
The process of transferring the enterprise to the state lasted nearly two years. In July 2022, a court transferred MAP’s corporate rights to the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA). However, the agency was effectively unable to take the plant under management, as this required consent from the owner in Russia, which law enforcement authorities could have treated as collaboration.
In June 2023, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court upheld the decision to confiscate a number of Deripaska’s assets, including the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant. The nationalization process was finally completed on March 20, 2024, after which the State Property Fund of Ukraine became the company’s sole founder.
After the start of the full-scale war, the plant’s operations were effectively suspended. Before 2022, MAP’s operations supported around 5,000 jobs, including staff at the plant itself as well as service and IT companies. Currently, around 400 employees remain at the site, focused on maintaining critical infrastructure and environmental safety.
The main priority now is servicing the plant’s two red mud disposal sites, monitoring the condition of the dams, and preventing dust emissions from the waste. Specialists are also working to preserve high-value equipment and protect the plant’s territory.
