London court starts hearing of Norilsk dispute of RUSAL, Interros

LONDON, May 14 (PRIME) -- The High Court of London has started four-day hearings of a dispute between Russian aluminum giant UC RUSAL of businessman Oleg Deripaska and Interros of tycoon Vladimir Potanin over a sale of shares in metals giant Norilsk Nickel, according to the information obtained by PRIME at the court on Monday.

Both businessmen arrived to the court to testify.

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

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

President of Deripaska’s power company En+ Group Maxim Sokov, a witness, said that after the lockup period Crispian should have sold its Norilsk Nickel shares on the open market or to a third-party strategic investor, but not to a current shareholder.

End