Prokhorov and Interros President Vladimir Potanin are two key shareholders of the Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel. Both businessmen announced early this year plans to divide assets. Prokhorov held 28.2% and Potanin 25.3% of Norilsk Nickel's shares as of October 26.
"The company Onexim sent an official offer to Interros this morning to buy Prokhorov's package of shares in Norilsk Nickel at the price of $293.6 per share plus a 12.5% premium, i.e. at $330.3 per share," said Alexei Ryabinkin, the fund's press secretary.
As of 5:30 p.m. Moscow time (2:30 p.m. GMT), Norilsk Nickel shares in the RTS Russian Trading System were quoted at around $285 per share. In the past thirty days Norilsk Nickel stock has fluctuated within the price range of $261.5-313.6 per share in the RTS.
At the same time, Ryabinkin said Onexim has not received any offer from Interros to buy out Prokhorov's stake in Norilsk Nickel.
The market capitalization of Norilsk Nickel, which accounts for more than 20% of global nickel output, over 10% of cobalt and 3% of copper, and 96% of Russia's nickel production, has risen 40% since the start of the year, to about $40 billion.
