Russia's Metalloinvest expects its official to sit on new Norilsk board

Metalloinvest, one of Russia's largest metals producers, expects its official Farkhad Moshiri to sit on a new board of directors of the country's largest nickel producer Norilsk Nickel, which was elected last Friday, a representative of Metalloinvest's core owner Alisher Usmanov, who owns 4% in Norilsk, told RIA Novosti on Monday.

An extraordinary shareholders meeting of Norilsk Nickel on March 11 was initiated by RusAl, the world's largest aluminum producer and one of Norilsk core shareholders, to re-elect the current board, which RusAl accused of inefficiency. Norilsk has not announced the results of the meeting yet.

RusAl and Interros, the investment arm of Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, have long been fighting for control of Norilsk Nickel. RusAl says the Norilsk board became dominated by officials linked with Interros after the AGM last summer, where RusAl lost one board seat, while Interros increased its representation.

Interros Deputy General Director Larisa Zelkova told reporters on Friday the company hoped to get four seats on the board, adding that Interros also voted for the current Norilsk President Andrei Klishas and two independent directors at the meeting.

Moshiri was a Norilsk board member previously but was not elected at the annual meeting in the summer of 2010.

"We expect Farkhad Moshiri to join the Norilsk (new) board. Over 6% of votes, including the votes of RusAl, were cast for him. There is an agreement between Metalloinvest and UC RusAl to cooperate on issues concerning the development of Norilsk Nickel. We also support the view of increasing efficiency of the company's management in the interests of all Norilsk shareholders, not in favor of only one shareholder," the representative said.

Usmanov told Bloomberg earlier that Metalloinvest planned to increase its stake in Norilsk and his share package would soon be assigned to Metalloinvest.

A source close to Norilsk shareholders told RIA Novosti that Metalloinvest planned to join the Norilsk board to influence the board's decisions. Metalloinvest asked RusAl to support Moshiri with votes, understanding that the company's stake was too small to elect him.

"Having received a letter from Metalloinvest, RusAl, under an agreement with Interros (to manage Norilsk on a parity basis), we asked Interros to meet to discuss the forthcoming shareholders meeting and the lists of nominated candidates to guarantee a balanced composition of the new board. The respective letters were sent to Interros but we received a refusal," the source said.

The source also said that an alliance of RusAl and Metalloinvest had been formed in response to the actions of the Norilsk management and Interros. That is why, the pressure on the Norilsk management and Interros will increase, the source said.

 (RIA Novosti)