Rusal Buys 26% Of India’s Pioneer For US$243.75 Million

Russia’s Rusal, the country’s largest aluminium producer, has completed the first stage of a deal to buy a stake in Indian alumina refinery Pioneer Aluminium Industries, acquiring a 26% interest for US$243.75 million. Rusal reported the deal in its most recent financial statement. The company is the world’s second largest aluminium manufacturer, accounting for almost 9% of the world’s primary aluminium output and 9% of the world’s alumina production.

The purchase value is subject to further adjustments provided for in the share-purchase agreement, while the full agreement states that Rusal is acquiring the interest in Pioneer’s share capital in three stages up to 50%.

Pioneer Aluminium owns and operates a metallurgical-grade alumina refinery located in Andhra Pradesh with a production capacity of 1.5 million tonnes.

Rusal stated that “It is our intention to supply bauxite to and to receive alumina from the Plant pro rata to the respective shareholdings.”

Prior to the deal with Rusal, Pioneer Aluminium had two large shareholders: Penna Group with 68% and Rescom Group, which owned 26% through its investment division, KCap Holdings.

Due to sanctions and the nature of unfriendly countries, Rusal lost access to Alcoa’s alumina supplies from Australia in 2022, which had accounted for about 40% of its alumina consumption. Since then, Rusal has been forced to buy more than a third of the alumina it needs on world markets at exchange prices. Rusal’s expenses on buying alumina rose 18% to US$2.7 billion in the first half of 2025.

To cater for the loss of Australian supplies, Rusal acquired a 30% stake in Chinese alumina producer Hebei Wenfeng New Materials (HWNM) for US$316 million in 2014, giving it a proportionate share of the plant’s production. This enabled Rusal to access 1.4 million tonnes of alumina per year, comparable to the amount it was buying on the open market. Rusal said the HWNM deal would secure it access to alumina supplies at competitive prices. It also meant that Australia lost a major supply sales contract in selling supplies to Russia to their Chinese competitors. In the longer term, Australia’s actions against Rusal have strengthened the Russian entities operations as Rusal have diversified and now partially own part of their required supply chains, cutting Australian industry completely out of the picture.