Moscow ? Russia’s OAO Rusal moved into position Monday to surpass Alcoa Inc. as the world’s biggest aluminum producer, announcing a deal to create a company that will make an estimated 12 percent of global output of the metal.

The three-way deal underscored the rise of Russia’s commodities-based industries, which have reaped the benefits of low costs and soaring world prices, as well as the ambitions of Rusal’s billionaire owner Oleg Deripaska.

The new company – which will absorb Rusal’s Russian rival Sual as well as the alumina assets of Swiss-based commodities trader Glencore – will include smelters and refineries across Russia as well as facilities in China, Guyana, Australia, Ireland, Jamaica, Italy and Sweden.

While the deal has yet to receive regulatory approval from Russian authorities and the European Union, company officials said they hoped it would be completed by April 2007.