Abramovich Receives 7.3 Percent in Norilsk Nickel, Ends Putin-Deripaska Dispute

Reuters reported that a feud between Vladimir Putin and Oleg Deripaska over Norilsk Nickel (MCX:GMKN) was ended when the two men agreed to give Roman Abramovich the largest voting stake in the company.

As quoted in the market news:

Potanin and Deripaska agreed that Abramovich would buy a 7.3 percent stake, in the form of treasury stock, at market price. The stake is now worth around $2 billion.

The three parties will each contribute equal stakes, amounting to 22 percent of Norilsk, to an escrow account that will be voted by Abramovich’s investment firm Millhouse – giving him the largest say over how the company is run.

The arrangement reduces the voting power of Potanin’s holding company, Interros, now 28 percent, and that of Deripaska’s Hong Kong-listed aluminum giant RUSAL (0486.HK), currently 25 percent.

In return, Deripaska will get the higher dividends he has long sought. Potanin – who has controlled Norilsk since he won it in the “loans-for-shares” privatization scheme he ran as a top official in the 1990s – will be chief executive.

Click here to read the full Reuters report.