Potanin to appeal UK court decision in battle of billionaires
MOSCOW – Russian businessman Vladimir Potanin plans to appeal a London court decision to block him from buying shares in mining company Norilsk Nickel from fellow investor Roman Abramovich, representatives at Potanin's investment firm said on Tuesday.
The ruling, taken in June, was considered to be advantageous for Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, who controls aluminium giant Rusal, and has long been at loggerheads with Potanin over control of Norilsk Nickel.
He wanted to stop Abramovich, owner of England's Chelsea soccer club, from selling shares in the company to Potanin, saying that would violate a 2012 shareholder agreement.
Representatives of Interros, which manages Potanin's assets, said they had filed a request together with Abramovich's investment vehicle Crispian, to be allowed to appeal the decision.
"Today the judge satisfied our request," Interros said. "Within 21 days after receipt of the court decision we have to submit our appeal to London's Court of Appeal."
Rusal, which holds a 27.8% stake in Nornickel, declined to comment. A representative for Abramovich did not respond to requests for comment.
In September, Potanin returned a 2% stake in Nornickel to Abramovich and his partners, that he had previously bought from them for about $800-million - a move which had increased his holding in the miner to 32.9%.
He had previously promised to return the stake to Abramovich if the London court ruled against the deal.
Deripaska and Potanin have battled over control of Nornickel ever since Rusal, the world's largest aluminium producer outside China, bought a stake in the miner just before the 2008 global financial crash.
Abramovich stepped in as a "white knight" minority shareholder in 2012 to act as a buffer between Potanin and Deripaska.
The long-running conflict was overshadowed in April this year by US sanctions imposed against Deripaska and some of his companies, including Rusal.
Nornickel competes with Brazil's Vale for the rank of the world's top nickel producer and is also the world's largest palladium producer.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation