RUSAL withdraws suit against Norilsk share buyback

MOSCOW, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Russia's United Company RUSAL, the world's top aluminium producer and a major shareholder in Norilsk Nickel, said on Monday it had withdrawn its suit against a share buyback by the top nickel miner. After RUSAL and another major shareholder, Interros, agreed to end their dispute last week, RUSAL dropped its opposition to the buyback, on which Norilsk had spent some 26 billion roubles ($948.2 million) before it was blocked by a court at RUSAL's request. UC RUSAL had challenged Norilsk chairman Vladimir Potanin -- who runs Interros and is Norilsk's largest shareholder with 30 percent -- over his plan to spend $1.8 billion in a global credit squeeze to buy stock at over three times its market value. [ID:nLT472629] Norilsk offered on Aug. 22 to buy back up to 7.95 million shares, or 4 percent of its stock, at 6,167 roubles. At 1143 GMT, Norilsk shares were trading down 4.33 percent at 1,933 roubles. UC RUSAL, which is controlled by tycoon Oleg Deripaska, owns a 25 percent-plus-two-shares stake in Norilsk.