ALUMINUM HEAVYWEIGHTS….

Less than two months ago, “aluminum king” Lev Chernoy sold his holdings to companies connected to tycoons and sometime partners Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich. They now reportedly control 60-70 percent of Russia’s aluminum production. Much of the rest, as well as Ukrainian sources of alumina, belongs to Oleg Deripaska’s Siberian Aluminum Company. Reports surfaced last week that the two groups are negotiating a merger or alliance that would control around 10 percent of the world’s aluminum supplies. First Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, touted as Russia’s next premier, likes the idea. The aluminum deals are “fully legal” under the antimonopoly laws, he said, adding that the government “in every way welcomes… the formation of holdings with the weight of a Gazprom” — the natural-gas monopoly that is Russia’s largest corporation.