Rusal Intends to Direct Norilsk Nickel dividends to Repay Loans

UC Rusal plans to direct dividends from its 25% stake in MMC Norilsk Nickel to pay off company’s debt, said CEO of the aluminum company Oleg Deripaska, in an interviewto Russian TV channel.

"We are one of the shareholders of Norilsk Nickel, and we do have obligations to the banks. Virtually all funds will go to pay off our old bank loans", said Deripaska. According to 9m2012 IFRS report, net debt of Rusal decreased by 3.1% to $10.710 billion from $11.049 billion at the end of 2011. 

Putin Talks Up Prospects Of Norilsk Nickel Peace Treaty

Publication by Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped a long-running shareholder conflict at Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest nickel and palladium miner, would soon be resolved, signaling a possible new round of talks between its owners.

Putin gave no indication on Monday, however, of how billionaire shareholders Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska might end a battle for control of Norilsk, which has drained cash out of the business and sapped long-term investment. 

Norilsk Nickel AGM Showed Relief in UC Rusal vs. Interros Conflict

The conflict between UC Rusal and Interros over the influence in the Norilsk Nickel has softened. Recently, the parties have found understanding on issues of investment and management of NorNickel’s treasury shares. At the last meeting of shareholders which passed this Friday, Rusal with the help of Interros put five of his candidates into the board. The owners of Norilsk Nickel were forced to make up due to the deteriorating situation on the market. 

Norilsk Nickel Shareholders Nominated New Candidates To The Board

Today, Norilsk Nickel’s Board of Directors should approve the list of candidates to fill the new Board, writes Russian newspaper Vedomosti. The list of nominees will be submitted for the elections on company’s AGM this summer. Norilsk Nickel’s board have 13 seats, which according to the shares ownership and previously reached agreements distributed in the following way: Interros - 4 seats, UC Rusal, 2 seats, Independent Directors - 5 seats, Norilsk Nickel - 1 seat, Trafigura - 1 seat.

UC Rusal, according to the Russian media, has proposed 8 candidates to the new board. The list includes four acting directors of the board — Oleg Deripaska, co-owner and general director of UC Rusal, his deputy in Rusal, Maxim Sokov, former head of Presidential administration Alexander Voloshin and chairman of the BoD of Metalloinvest, Farhad Moshiri. 

Oleg Deripaska Loses Another Partner — Viktor Vekselberg Quits From Rusal Opposing Its Aggressive And Hostile Business Model

Russian aluminium giant UC Rusal has faced another punch in the face, this time from one of its shareholders — Viktor Vekselberg, who has been partnering Oleg Deripaska in the aluminium business through his SUAL Partners, which holds 15,8% of Rusal for the benifit of Vekselberg and his partner Leonard Blavatnik, publicly resigned from the position of Chairman of the Board of the aluminium company. 

Russian media reported, that in the letter to Rusal’s board members Vekselberg has aggressively criticized business model of Rusal, accusing Deripaska of running the company into a huge debt, being ineffective during a crisis times, and personally responsible for drawing Rusal into a huge amount of litigations and social conflicts. 

Oleg Deripaska May Be Banned From Europe If Connection Between UC Rusal And Hyposwiss Theft Will Be Proved

International newswires reported that Swiss police have arrested a man for trying to sell confidential client data from Hyposwiss Private Bank, as it was confirmed by Switzerland's prosecutor on Wednesday, Feb. 29. 

The prosecutor said the unnamed individual, formerly employed by a firm that provided services to Hyposwiss, had approached a law firm with the data, and remains in custody after his Feb. 16 arrest.

Swiss court still to review Rusal’s complaint which it has filed against The Federal Criminal Court of Switzerland who has turned down its earlier claim with allegations addressed to Norilsk Nickel’s recently held $4.5 billion buy-back procedure and a 8.1% shares sale to the international trading house Trafigura which happened almost a year ago. Rusal calculated its losses from Interros actions at more than $1 billion and named former board member of Hyposwiss Private Bank Zurich Hans Bodmer for his alleged role in the laundering scheme. 

4 Years Old Norilsk Nickel Feud Saga Continues — Oleg Deripaska Seeks For Justice In Swiss Courts

Russian nickel and palladium giant MMC Norilsk Nickel is still in the centre of the feud between Russian oligarchs Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska, who bought out the stake of Potanin’s ex-partner Michael Prokhorov and ran into serious disagreement over how to run nickel combine with Potanin from the beginning of their partnership.

While Prokhorov is making his new path as the politician balloting for the president chair in the competition on the upcoming elections with country’s Prime minister Vladimir Putin, Oleg Deripaska still tries to diminish or even destroy his Norilsk partner Vladimir Potanin. Now Deripaska uses Swiss courts where he publicly accuses Potanin in money laundering, using trustful Swiss press to transmit and spread his message in the way we have already described before. 

Norilsk Nickel Conflict Has Turned Into Long Series Of Lawsuits By Oleg Deripaska

In April, 2008 UC Rusal has bought into Norilsk Nickel when Oleg Deripaska has agreed with Michael Prokhorov, ex-parter of Vladimir Potanin in this company, about the purchase of 25% stake. Deripaska had something in mind when he was buying into this Russian metallurgical giant, but was that a thought about mutual management of this company with Interros?

Since 2008, relations between the two shareholders had started to chill out, they found controversies which had later turned into open confrontation and disagreement on almost all significant topics. In the beginning of the conflict UC Rusal has put some effort into settling the differences, but 2010 and 2011 was spent by Oleg Deripaska in the attempts to put all kinds of pressure on Vladimir Potanin. Deripaska has appealed to Krasnoyarsk administration, President Medvedev, Federal prosecutors and financial regulators of the country. After Deripaska has failed in his attempt to sabotage Interros and management of Norilsk Nickel domestically he has engaged his international legal-fighting machine to question and revoke every single operation Norilsk Nickel has implemented. 

Netherlands and Nevis Courts Say “No!” to Oleg Deripaska and UC Rusal

Russian aluminum producer UC Rusal goes flop in its plan to use international judicial machine as an instrument of influence in its fight over Norilsk Nickel. UC Rusal has recently lost control over Norilsk Nickel’s board and later on has boycotted the board altogether. Unwilling to sell it’s stake in Norilsk Nickel and being unable to gain control over the company’s board, Oleg Deripaska has decided to throw all forces to legally refute all decisions made by Norilsk Nickel’s management, including the sale of 8.1% of shares to to Dutch trader Trafigura completed last year. Unfortunately for Mr. Deripaska international courts are not so easy to crack, he completely failed in all of his attempts to persuade court officials to follow his leads.  

Federal Antimonopoly Service Tries To Block Norilsk Nickel’s Buyback Procedure

Norilsk Nickel’s shares buyback procedure, which has been announced and approved by the company’s board in September of this year has faced another obstacle perfectly orchestrated by Vladimir Potanin’s rival in the fight for Norilsk Nickel — Oleg Deripaska, the owner of UC Rusal and co-shareholder of Norilsk Nickel. Mr. Deripaska has lost several fights for control over Russian nickel champion in a raw. Norilsk Nickel’s board of directors has been headed by the Potanin ally, and the board has accepted a buyout procedure which would not allow UC Rusal to get control over the company.

But, apparently, UC Rusal’s lobbying machine was able to recruit another soldier to their side. According to Russian newspaper Vedomosti, Federal Antimonopoly Service’s (FAS) head Igor Artemiev has distributed a letter to Norilsk Nickel’s management, company’s key shareholders (Interros and UC Rusal), and its bankers (Bank of New York Mellon, ING Bank Eurasia and Citigroup) in which he warned all interested parties that FAS, as a market’s financial regulator, considers Interros and Norilsk Nickel to be a “group of associates”.