London court sides with RUSAL in dispute over Norilsk shares

LONDON, Jun 27 (PRIME) -- The High Court of London has ruled that Crispian Investments, a unit of businessman Roman Abramovich’s Millhouse, should not have proposed and sold a stake in Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel to Interros of tycoon Vladimir Potanin, as seen by PRIME in the court’s order on Wednesday.

The sale infringed a shareholder agreement on preemptive rights between Interros and aluminum giant UC RUSAL, the court added.

A long-standing shareholder conflict, which was resolved in 2012 with the intermediation of Abramovich by signing an agreement with a five-year share lockup period, resumed in mid-February. The lockup period expired in December 2017, when Interros decided to buy Abramovich’s 4% in Norilsk Nickel. RUSAL filed a lawsuit to the High Court of London to suspend the deal.

In March, RUSAL and Interros preliminarily agreed at court that each of them buys about 2% in the nickel company from Crispian Investments, whose stake amounted to 6.37%. Interros has already closed its deal to acquire a 2.1% stake.

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