Uphill struggle

1 September 2010 By Jason Bush

The oligarch has suffered a setback in his row with the Russian nickel miner, after Vladimir Putin rejected his criticisms of Norilsk’s dividend policy. Without political support, Deripaska may be better selling the 25 pct stake held through debtridden aluminium giant Rusal.

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On Aug. 31, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin travelled to the Arctic city of Norilsk, to meet with executives and core shareholders of the mining giant Norilsk Nickel. At the meeting, Putin said the government had no wish to take sides in a dispute between the two core shareholders, Vladimir Potanin's Interros Group and Oleg Deripaska's RUSAL. However, Putin noted the 50 percent dividend paid by Norilsk was unusually high, thereby disagreeing with RUSAL, which has called for a much higher dividend payout.

RUSAL is engaged in a public dispute with both Interros and Norilsk's management. It has called for management changes and launched legal action to overcome the outcome of Norilsk's Annual General Meeting, held on June 28. It accused Norilsk's management of "manipulation" of voting, and "gross violations of corporate governance procedures", after losing one of its four representatives on Norilsk's 13seat board.

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