JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Shareholders of Russian nickel and palladium producer Norilsk Nickel on Monday approved the appointment of former De Beers CEO Gareth Penny as chairperson.
Norilsk Nickel shareholders on Monday voted in favour of the early termination of powers of the company’s board of directors and the election of a new board, following the conclusion of a deal, in December, to end the power struggle between the company’s largest shareholders Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska.
“The newly elected board of directors of Norilsk Nickel includes five independent nonexecutive directors out of 13 members. The position of the chairperson is now occupied by an independent director. Such number of independent directors guarantees that the decisions of the board will be impartial and will serve the interests of all shareholders of the company.
“I believe that Norilsk Nickel has great potential for development. The settlement of a dispute between major shareholders should provide the company with a solid platform for further improvement of strategic, operational and corporate governance issues. We, as the board members, will do our best to ensure stability of the company's operations and increase its long-term value for shareholders,” Penny said in a statement.
Other members of the board include deputy chairperson Andrey Bougrov, as well as Gerhardus Prinsloo, Maxim Sokov, Sergey Bratukhin and Alexey Bashkirov, who would chair the audit, strategy, corporate governance, nomination and remuneration, and budget committees respectively.