Oleg Deripaska is likely to have to give up on his attempt to launch a $2bn initial public offering of his UC Rusal aluminium group before Christmas after the Hong Kong Stock Exchange announced a further delay, people close to the situation said yesterday.

The exchange's decision that it was not yet ready to give a go-ahead on the issue meant the offering of up to 10 per cent of the company's shares would have to be pushed back to next year, possibly as late as April. “We have run out of time,” one person close to the offering said.

The company last night had not made an official announcement as Mr Deripaska and the other billionaire shareholders in Rusal were in discussions on whether to postpone the listing until next year. But the fresh delay meant the company would have at most five days to market the offering in order to price and start trading before Christmas. “We have to start working on plan B,” said another person close to the talks.