Interros holding company, an owner of about 30% of the country's largest nickel producer Norilsk Nickel, has received four seats on the board of the mining firm, while another core Norilsk shareholder, RusAl, and Norilsk management got two seats each, Norilsk said on Wednesday following an extraordinary shareholders' meeting.
The meeting was convened on March 11 on the initiative of RusAl, the world's largest aluminum maker. Alexander Voloshin, who lost the position during an annual general meeting in the summer, was elected to chair the board.
"On the whole, RusAl is positive about the results of the extraordinary meeting," a source, close to the aluminum company, told RIA Novosti. "All candidates, for whom RusAl voted, were elected to the board. The election of Voloshin, the cornerstone of arguments after the annual meeting, may form the basis for a functional dialogue between Norilsk shareholders."
RusAl, controlled by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, and Interros, the investment arm of another Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, have long been fighting for control of Norilsk Nickel. RusAl says the Norilsk board became dominated by officials linked to Interros after last summer’s meeting, in which RusAl lost one board seat, while Interros increased its representation.
Troika Dialog investment house said the results of the vote cemented Interros' control over Norilsk.
"The results lacked major surprises, with Interros and Norilsk Nickel's management retaining a tight grip over the 13-seat board," Troika said in a research note.
Sergei Barbashev, Andrei Bougrov, Marianna Zakharova and Larisa Zelkova will represent Interros on the new board.
Deripaska, Maxim Sokov from RusAl and Farkhad Moshiri from Metalloinvest, one of Russia's largest metals producers which owns 4% in Norilsk, were also elected.
Independent directors will be represented by Lucian Bebchuk, nominated by RusAl, and Bradford Alan Mills, nominated by Interros.
Norilsk management will be represented by Norilsk General Director Vladimir Strzhalkovsky and Norilsk President Andrei Klishas. New Norilsk shareholder Trafigura Beheer B.V. will be represented by Claude Dauphin.
In December, Norilsk sold American Depositary Shares equaling about 8% of its stock to Trafigura Beheer BV. RusAl said it was worried by the deal which it called non-transparent and filed a suit to a U.S. court. The deal between Norilsk and Trafigura has not been officially closed.
MOSCOW, March 23 (RIA Novosti)
