Russia's RUSAL repays creditors $2.14 billion

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The world's top aluminum producer, Russia's UC RUSAL (0486.HK) (RUAL.PA), said on Thursday it had repaid $2.14 billion owed to creditors, reducing its total debt to $12.9 billion.

The company had raised the funds via an initial public offering on the Hong Kong and NYSE Euronext Paris stock exchanges last month.

It said in a statement the funds were repaid to several international and Russian lenders, as well as the Onexim Group, which is one of RUSAL's shareholders and an investment vehicle of tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov.

Of the total, international lenders received $1.46 billion of debt and $152 million as a fee. Russian lenders received $253 million and Onexim $278 million.

RUSAL did not repay any of its debt to state-owned Russian bank VEB, which bought 3.11 percent of RUSAL shares during the offering becoming the largest of the 229 buyers.

The repayment exceeded the debt repayment target for 2010, RUSAL said. It also allowed RUSAL to make progress toward meeting its next debt repayment target of $3.3 billion by the end of 2013.

"We are confident that the right choice of strategy to overcome the consequences of the global economic downturn and the strengthening of our competitive advantages will enable us to pay off the remaining debt in the shortest possible term," Oleg Mukhamedshin, RUSAL's director for capital markets said in the statement.

RUSAL shares were down 1 percent at HK$9.41 by 0830 GMT (3:30 a.m. EST).

(Reporting by Aleksandras Budrys; Editing by David Holmes)