Interros: RUSAL wants to boost Norilsk’s divs despite fuel spill

MOSCOW, Aug 12 (PRIME) -- Vladimir Potanin’s Interros sees the latest public statements of aluminum giant RUSAL as an attempt to use a heavy fuel spill in Norilsk to force Norilsk Nickel sign an new shareholder deal and maximize dividends, according to a statement seen by PRIME on Wednesday.

"RUSAL published a statement on Monday, in which it criticized management of Norilsk Nickel anew referring to the situation with a fuel spill in Norilsk, and an earlier statement by Potanin that the shareholder agreement with RUSAL barred development of Norilsk Nickel and was a rudiment,” Interros said.

“The aluminum company said in particular that high Norilsk Nickel dividends are important and have to be paid in Russia like RUSAL does. Interros sees RUSAL’s latest public statements as an attempt to use the situation with the fuel spill and exert pressure on Norilsk Nickel to sign a new shareholder agreement to guarantee maximum dividends for RUSAL."

The company added that RUSAL did not produce any significant initiative for upgrade of Norilsk’s facilities and contrary to the statement, RUSAL does not invest in the Russian economy but spends a significant amount of dividends to repay loans to banks.

Norilsk Nickel’s major shareholders include Interros with 34.6% and Oleg Deripaska’s UC RUSAL with 27.82%.

A fuel tank at Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company, part of Norilsk Nickel group, lost pressure on May 29 and leaked out 21,000 tonnes of fuel and lubricants into the river Ambarnaya, causing a fire.

Norilsk Nickel said on Tuesday that its net profit plummeted to 1.2 billion rubles in January–June 2020 from 196.2 billion rubles in the same period of 2019 due to a reserve created to compensate for the spill.

End