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An eight-year-old shareholder agreement signed by Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel's major owners has become a relic of the past which the US$44 billion miner does not need, Vladimir Potanin, its largest shareholder, told Reuters.
FILE PHOTO: Vladimir Potanin, co-owner of Norilsk Nickel, attends an agreement signing ceremony with the Krasnoyarsk region's government, in Moscow, Russia December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo
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MOSCOW: An eight-year-old shareholder agreement signed by Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel's major owners has become a relic of the past which the US$44 billion miner does not need, Vladimir Potanin, its largest shareholder, told Reuters.
Potanin's Interros holding, aluminium producer Rusal and some other stakeholders signed https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-norilsk/russian-tycoon-becomes-norilsk-ceo-in-board-peace-deal-idUSBRE8BG0O320121217 the agreement on dividend payouts to end a previous four-year conflict over the size of dividend payments, Nornickel's strategy and management.
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Potanin said it had now run its course.
"Maintaining this 'superstructure' will put even more pressure on Nornickel with the aim of extracting maximum dividends from it, regardless of the economic and social situation around the company," Potanin said in his strongest public comment on the agreement.
The deal expires on Jan. 1, 2023, with a question over whether it will be extended or suspended.
"We believe that dividends should not be reduced, but left in Russia and should be directed towards the development of the Russian economy, as Rusal does, for example," Rusal said in a statement.
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Rusal, which bought the stake in Nornickel for US$14 billion in 2008, last paid dividends in 2017 when it distributed US$300 million to shareholders.
The agreement gave Nornickel's shareholders additional tools to control the company, including a veto for major stakeholders on certain deals and financial control, as well as installing Potanin as a managing partner.
Potanin told Reuters in an emailed statement that these extra tools were noRead More – Source
