PRESS: CEO: RUSAL, Norilsk Nickel no longer plan to merge

MOSCOW, Nov 29 (PRIME) -- Russian metals producers UC RUSAL and Norilsk Nickel have abandoned an idea of a merger, key owner of Norilsk Nickel Vladimir Potanin told business daily Vedomosti in an interview released on Wednesday.

“We have agreed with Oleg (Deripaska, president and key beneficiary of RUSAL) that Norilsk Nickel and RUSAL are different companies and no synergy is visible. This is why they will be developing independently in the medium term,” Potanin said.

According to Potanin, the discussion was held in summer and Deripaska said that he sees more synergy between RUSAL and En+ Group and would rather like to consolidate production on the basis of En+ Group.

RUSAL owns 27.8% in Norilsk Nickel, while Potanin’s Interros 30.3%.

En+ Group holds a 48.13% stake in RUSAL.

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