RusAl drops Corbiere deal lawsuit against Norilsk Nickel

Russian aluminum giant RusAl, one of the core shareholders in Norilsk Nickel, has withdrawn a lawsuit contesting the sale of a 7.2 percent stake in Norilsk to the nickel giant's subsidiary Corbiere Holdings Ltd for $3.5 billion, a court official said on Wednesday.

The Krasnoyarsk Arbitration Court terminated proceedings against Norilsk Nickel after RusAl dropped the lawsuit, the court official said.

RusAl, controlled by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, and Interros, the investment arm of another Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, have been locked in a struggle for control of Norilsk Nickel. RusAl claims the Norilsk board has become unfairly dominated by officials linked with Interros after the AGM last summer, where RusAl lost one board seat, while Interros increased its representation.

Norilsk initiated a $4.5 billion buyback program in January, which was carried out by Corbiere. The program was to have been completed on February 10, but was suspended following a ruling by a court in the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis following a lawsuit filed by RusAl. The aluminum company said the program would distort the company's structure.

Corbiere renewed the program after a Nevis court discharged its previous injunction on February 28 and completed the buyback only in March, having acquired 7.2 percent of Norilsk's shares from minority shareholders.

On Tuesday, RusAl also withdrew its lawsuit against Norilsk Nickel concerning the sale of an 8 percent stake in Norilsk to Swiss-based trading house Trafigura.

Norilsk signed a deal with Trafigura Beheer BV in December 2010 on the sale to it of American Depositary Shares (ADS) equaling about 8 percent of Norilsk's stock. RusAl claimed the deal was not approved by the Norilsk board of directors, its details were opaque and Trafigura may not be the end buyer of the shares, while a company friendly to Norilsk may have financed the purchase.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, RusAl said it saw no judicial possibilities for protecting its rights in the Russian courts but reserved the right "to seek justice in foreign courts where a different approach is used towards the collection of evidence."