Russian oligarchs battle it out on Norilsk board

The rival camps of oligarchs now sitting on the board of Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel have lost no time in resuming their battle for control of the company. UC RUSAL, which now has three board members and has targeted a full take-over of Norilsk, issued a statement lambasting the rival camp, led by Vladimir Potanin and the Interros group, for its moves at the first July 7 board meeting since the election of new directors. “The first meeting of the Board of Directors of Norilsk Nickel did not comply with the practices used by public companies,” said UC RUSAL. “It was called by Interros on one working day's notice despite the request of other shareholders to reschedule the meeting due to their inability to be present on such a short notice, before the announcement of the official results of the annual shareholders meeting (results were published on the day of the Board’s meeting) and without providing any materials on the stated agenda.” The “agenda” was the election of Potanin, who commands a thin outright majority on the Norilsk board, as chairman and the replacement of Denis Morozov as general director (CEO) by Sergey Batekhin, deputy general director of Interros. “The election of Sergey Batekhin, deputy CEO of Interros, as the CEO of Norilsk Nickel was made without any search being carried out to establish a shortlist and was not supervised by a Nomination Committee,“ UC RUSAL said. As for the election of Potanin as chairman, it “contradicts the policy of the independent proxy advisory firm ISS, which supports independent Chairman, and the specific recommendation of another major proxy advisory firm, Glass Lewis, which specifically recommended that Norilsk have an independent Board Chairman.” UC RUSAL said it would consult with other minority shareholders with a view to calling an extraordinary general meeting to elect “truly independent” directors to the Norilsk board and that it reserved its rights “to pursue all legal remedies against the company and its board of directors.” Source: MetalsInsider