Braidy Industries — which plans to build a $1.7 billion manufacturing plant in Eastern Kentucky — has once again pushed back the deadline for its monthslong, $500 million stock sale, this time extending the closing date to July 22.

The private company, in which the state of Kentucky has directly invested $15 million, reported this week that the extension is meant to coincide with the anticipated closing of a recently announced, $200 million investment by a Russian aluminum company called United Co. Rusal.

A letter of intent regarding Rusal's "lead investment" in Braidy's aluminum rolling mill, planned for the Ashland area, already has been approved by the businesses' respective boards of directors and calls for the companies to enter into definitive agreements that formally implement the letter's specified terms, according to this week's offering update from Braidy.

The agreements that will secure Rusal's investment in the mill are expected to be entered into by early in the third quarter of this year, according to the update. Braidy also has been working with Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, its exclusive financial adviser, to "formalize and close the additional equity and debt financing needed to construct the mill."

Last month:Court rules Bevin must release Braidy investors' names

The Kentucky-based company launched its roughly $500 million stock offering in September 2018 and has repeatedly extended the deadline as it works to attain enough financing to build the mill, which is expected to create hundreds of long-term jobs in an economically struggling region.

Many public officials and residents in Eastern Kentucky have eagerly awaited the mill's construction since Braidy announced plans in 2017. Gov. Matt Bevin has been credited with helping attract Braidy to the commonwealth.

Bevin also played a key role in the state government's decision to invest $15 million in the company in return for an ownership stake and a promise to generate over 500 high-paying jobs in that part of Kentucky.

Braidy broke ground on the mill one year ago. However, it previously said in documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it anticipated needing to raise about $500 million in fresh equity capital before it can borrow enough money in debt financing to fully fund the mill's construction.

The company's stock offering was initially set to end in November, but that deadline was extended to Dec. 31, then to March 31, and again to June 15. It announced this week that it was pushing the deadline into July with an update posted on Netcapital, an online portal through which people can invest in Braidy and other businesses.

A prior business update by Braidy said the company had received more than $1 billion in "substantial indications of interest from various accredited parties," such as institutional investors and wealthy individuals.

Read this:Congressional Dems want review of Russian investment in Braidy's mill

Since then, Rusal's plan to invest $200 million in Braidy's future mill in return for a 40% share in the facility came to light.

That turn of events has concerned several Democrats in Congress who recently requested a federal review of the forthcoming investment. Rusal used to be under U.S. sanctions, as was its parent company En+ Group, although those have been lifted.

The sanctions were related to Rusal and En+ Group's ties to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch and ally of Vladimir Putin, Russia's president.

In the past, Braidy has said it would begin production at the mill, which will be designed to produce aluminum sheet and plate for the automotive and aerospace industries, in 2020.

However, recent SEC documents say it currently expects the mill's commencement of operations to happen in 2021.

Morgan Watkins: 502-582-4502; mwatkins@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @morganwatkins26. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/morganw.